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http://www.archive.org/details/jottingsoftravelOOster 



JOTTINGS OF TRAVEL 



IN 



CHINA AND JAPAN 



BY 






«2> SiAAON Adler Stern, 



PHILADELPHIA; 

PORTER & COATES, 

1888, 




1 ^ 



5d 



Copyrighted, iSSS. 



tow. STERN i 00. PUS, 



^^ 



TO 

WHARTON BARKER, 

THE FOI.I.OWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED, AS A TOKEN 
OF THE REGARD AND ESTEEM OF 

THR AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS. 







p.\Gr;. 


I. 


Across thk Coxtinknt, . 


II 


II. 


vSan Francisco, . 


• 25 


III. 


Ox THE Pacific, . 


. 30 


IV. 


Yokohama 


• 44 


V. 


Yokohama — Tokio. 


. 51 


VI. 


Shiba 


. 65 


VII. 


A FiRic IN Yokohama, 


. 66 


VIII. 


A Japanese Restaurant, . 


• 75 


IX. 


Some Japanese Custo:vis. . 


. S4 


X. 


The BI.UFF AT Yokohama, 


• 92 


XI. 


Treaty Revision, 


. 10 1 


XII. 


A Japanese Dinner, . 


. 104 


XIII. 


Kobe — Nagasaki, 


iiij 


XIV. 


Shanghai, .... 


. 120 


XV. 


Street Scenes, 


• 131 


XVI. 


A Chinese Theatre, . 


. 143 


XVII. 


Foreigners in China— A Jf 


wish 




Synagogue, . 


. 150 


XVIII. 


Tientsin 


• 157 


XIX. 


The Railway Proei^em, 


. 166 


XX. 


Homeward Bound, 





APPENDIX. 



Chinese Pirates, 
The Queen's Jubii.ee, 
Japanese Dress, 



177 
180 
184 



EARLY in February, 1S87, my friend 
W. B. called at my office one day 
and, drawing me aside, said that lie 
wanted me to go to China for him, to 
represent him in certain business matters 
in which he was interested. He thought 
that the trip would take about five 
months ; told me that I would have one 
or two travelling companions, and that 
the rest of the party would sail from 
New York, via Suez, and join us at 
Shanghai. 

To one who had never been so far 
away from home that it would take 
more than a day to return, an invita- 
tion to travel to the antipodes was some- 
what startling. I had never been much 



8 Jottings of Tf'avel 

of a traveller, and now I was called upon 
to say whether I would leave family, 
friends and business for a voyage of ten 
thousand miles or more, to far-off Cathay. 
It did not take me long to decide ; but 
after I had promised to go, the idea of 
doing so lost much of its charm. I 
could not help changing my point of 
view and gradually succumbed to an 
attack of homesickness that was severe 
enough to induce me to give up the pro- 
jected trip. Odd as it now seems to me 
to have had a fit of homesickness before 
leaving home, it was a serious enough 
matter at the time. In a day or two it 
yielded to my own treatment — a simple 
determination to conquer it — and I firm- 
ly resolved that, come what might, I 
would go. I have had abundant reason, 
since then, to congratulate myself on 
that decision, for my travels were rich 
in delightful experiences, and have given 
me a store of memories that it will always 
be a pleasure to recall. 



/// China and Japan. 9 

I kept no journal of my wanderings, 
but wrote fully and frequently to my kin 
at home. Some of the friends who have, 
from time to time, read those letters, have 
asked me to put them in more permanent 
shape ; I willingly yield to the request, 
although I cannot help fearing that the 
judgment which prompted it may have 
been an over-friendly one. If I had the 
slightest reason to believe that the zest 
with which I enjoyed all that was so new 
to me could communicate itself to the 
readers of these pages, I should ask no 
better warrant than that for 23utting my 
hasty jottings by the way into the print- 
er's hands. S. A. S. 

August, 1888. 



I. Across the Continent. 

NO one can feel the potency of home 
ties more keenly than I do, and it 
would seem natural and easy to begin 
by telling about the parting from the 
loved ones I left behind me. But after 
all, there is so much that goes without 
the saying, and that ma}^ as well remain 
untold. My travels began after I left 
home, and my story ought to do like- 
wise. 

For some da3^s I had been uncertain 
when I was to start. At first I was to 
go via San Francisco, by the S. S. Bel- 
gic, leaving for Yokohama on the 2d of 
April. After that, we found that we 
would have to delay our departure long 
enough to take passage by the S. S. 
City of Peking, on the 12th. It was, how- 
ever, out of our power to arrange mat- 
ters in time, and it was finally decided 



12 Jottings of Travel 

tliat we would go by the S. S, San Pablo, 
which was advertised to start on the 
26th. Uncertain as I was, I had taken 
leave of a number of my acquaintances 
who when they met me, days and even 
weeks afterward, would exclaim, ''Oh! I 
thought you were half way to China by 
this time," with an air that seemed to 
imply resentment at my continued pres- 
ence in Philadelphia. I, too, came to 
feel that I was lagging superfluous on 
the scene, for I had, for the time, so ar- 
ranged my business as to enable me to 
be absent six months or longer, and felt 
awkward about taking up my work again 
when I could not know at what moment 
I might have to drop it. 

Finally, on the 9th of April, at about 
four o'clock in the afternoon, I became 
certain that I would be able to leave 
that night. My trunks had been packed 
for some days before that. I hurriedly 
procured my tickets, called on several 
friends to whom I bade hasty adienx, and 



in CJiina and Japan. 13 

at 9.50 P. ]\I. left Broad St. Station on 
the Pacific Express, intending to spend 
Sunday at Allegheny. Quite a little 
party had accompanied me to the Station, 
and when I said good-bye to them it was 
with a sense of gratitude for their friendly 
affection rather than of regret at the idea 
of leaving home. Indeed, I may as well 
mention it here, I had no further attack 
of homesickness. The first and only one 
had been severe enough, and yet I had 
recovered from it ; which fact would have 
enabled me to bear a relapse with equa- 
nimity. 

When I alighted from the train at Pitts- 
burgh, the next morning, I found my 
brother William waiting for me at the 
railway station. Half an hour later we 
were in Allegheny, at my sister's pleas- 
ant home, discussing, besides all sorts 
of other congenial topics, a bounteous 
breakfast. 

I left Pittsburgh the same evening at 
7.45 and reached Chicago at 9 A. M. of 



14 Jottings of Travel 

the next day, April nth. While still on 
the train I noticed in one of the sub- 
urbs the following sign, which I thought 
worth remembering: 

Billy Rogers Wabash House. 
Oysters & Meals at all Hours. 
The Resort of Sports and the Hungry, 
The Dry and the Tired. 

While walking the busy streets of bust- 
ling Chicago, I chanced across Theodore 
Thomas, who intended to leave that 
night for Omaha, there to join the 
National Opera Company. As this was 
my first visit to Chicago, I found much 
to interest me in its huge business build- 
ings and the active, energetic ways of 
its people. If I were to put the impres- 
sion it made upon me into words, I could 
best describe it as a giant that has not 
done growing. 



in Chi 11 a aiid Japan. 15 

Palace Hotel, 
San Francisco, April ig, iSSj. 

-- * " ''- -'- I had thoiig-lit, after 
leaving Denver, that I would give up 
correspondence until I had reached the 
end of my railroad travelling on this Con- 
tinent, but, in spite of the inconvenience 
that is inseparably connected with the 
effort to write while on a rapidly mov- 
ing railroad car, there was the constant 
temptation to send a few words to some 
one at home, and sufficient leisure to 
gratif}^ it. Not that the motion of the 
cars was any too rapid, for while be- 
tween Philadelphia and Chicago we 
made from thirty-five to thirty-eight 
miles per hour, our average speed after 
leaving Chicago was between twenty 
and twenty-two miles per hour. 

M. will probably M^ant to look up our 
route on his railway maps, and if he will 
take the folders of the C. B. & Q., the D. 
& R. G., and the C. P. R., he can easily 
do so. You may not know just what 



1 6 Jottings of Travel 

these initials stand for, but he will. Our 
course, after leaving Chicago, lay through 
Northern Illinois, with the prairies on 
either side of us. There was nothing in 
the shape of scenery to interest one. 
It was too early to see the beautiful 
green carpet that in the course of the 
next few weeks will cover those vast 
tracts. It was after nightfall when we 
crossed the Mississippi River at Bur- 
lington, Iowa, where we changed to the 
Burlington & Missouri River R. R. We 
saw very little of the Iowa portion of 
our route, because it was not until morn- 
ing that we reached Red Oak; some- 
what later, we crossed the Missouri 
River at a place called Pacific Junction, 
and thus entered the State of Nebraska. 
We traveled all day and all night, 
seeing nothing to the right or left but 
the interminable prairie, and stopping 
now and then at the stations that, as a 
rule, looked uninviting. Most of these 
are small towns of which you can get a 



ill China and Japan. i 7 

fair idea without leaving the platform of 
your car. When a place is so large that 
you cannot do this, it is safe to assume 
that the most unpicturesque portion of 
it is that nearest the railway. The land 
is chiefly devoted to farming and graz- 
ing; neither the busy look nor the pop- 
ulous settlements of the manufacturing 
districts of the Eastern and the Middle 
States are to be met with. That there 
is wealth and prosperity in the West is 
an old story by this time. It will prob- 
ably be a long while before its people 
are called upon to solve the problem as 
to what is the greatest number of hu- 
man beings that can subsist and exist 
on a given space. 

On Friday morning, the 15 th, we 
reached Denver. I would have liked, to 
take time to look about, but in order to do 
so I would have been obliged to remain 
there until the next day. On reflection, I 
concluded that it was best to make no 
stop until reaching San Francisco. At 



1 8 Jottings of Travel 

Denver we took the cars of the Denver & 
Rio Grande Western R. R. This is a 
narrow gauge road. 

Within a few hours after leaving Den- 
ver we were in the mountain country, 
which was an agreeable relief after our 
long journey through the prairies. In 
the afternoon we passed through the 
Grand Canon of the Arkansas, the wild- 
est and most picturesque region that I 
have ever seen. It would take either 
a fool or a genius to attempt to describe 
it ; as I do not care to figure as the for- 
mer, and could not counterfeit the latter 
even if I wanted to do so, I shall not try. 
On the other hand, I shall probably ruin 
myself by purchasing all the photo- 
graphic views that I can procure, and 
3^ou will have a chance to examine them 
on my return. 

At Marshall's Pass, in my enthusiasm 
at the fact of being 10,800 feet above 
the sea level, I sent a few words on a 
postal card to M. The cars had stopped ; 



in China and Japan. 19 

we were in a snow shed. It was as 
dark as night and the air was full of 
smoke from the engine. To the sur- 
prise of several of our party, we saw at 
the side of our train what we supposed 
to be a post-ofifice, and concluded it 
would be a good notion to mail what 
we had written, so that our letters and 
postal cards would bear the post-mark 
of Marshall's Pass. A moment later, 
to our great amusement, we discovered 
that what we had taken to be a post-office 
was simply the mail car of our own train, 
which had been divided into two sections 
that were lying along side of each other. 
During the greater part of Saturday, 
April 1 6th, we were travelling through 
what may best be described as a desert. 
Not a tree, rarely a stream of water, 
hardly any vegetation other than the 
stunted sage-brush, but with the snow- 
capped Rocky Mountains always in sight. 
At about 4 P. M. we reached the Salt 
Lake Valley and, after passing Utah 



20 Jottings of Travel 

Lake, we came upon a stretch of country 
showing the results of Mormon thrift. 
Here we saw grassy meadows, blossom- 
ing fruit trees, grazing herds of cattle 
and flocks of sheep. Salt Lake City, 
as seen from the station, was rather dis- 
appointing. The new Temple and the 
Tabernacle were pointed out to us; the 
other buildings seemed insignificant, and 
the town (or city) had a straggling, 
scattered look. Leaving Salt Lake City 
and passing along the border of the Great 
Salt Lake, we soon reached Ogden, where 
we changed to the cars of the Central 
Pacific R. R. 

When we awoke on Sunday, we were 
in Nevada. That whole day was a jour- 
ney through the desert, with mountains, 
bluffs and buttes in view all the time. 
The only incident was that at Battle 
Mountain Station our train was made to 
wait while the train carrying the Na- 
tional Opera Company to San Francisco 
was allowed to pass us. They stopped 



/// China and Japan. 21 

lonof enouo-h to orive me a chance to ex- 
change greetings with Conccrt-ineistcr Ben- 
dix and a few other acquaintances of mine 
who were of the party. While I was 
talking to them the train started ; by the 
time I had rushed out to the platform of 
the car it was moving quite rapidly. 
Luckily, I jumped off without doing my- 
self any injury and had to walk back 
some distance to where our train was 
waiting. When I found time to think of 
what I had done, I concluded that it 
would have been far more prudent to 
have remained with the Opera people 
until the next station was reached. 

At several of the stations in Nevada 
we saw numbers of Indians ; men, women 
and children. They were not very pleas- 
ant to behold. Some of them had their 
papooses bundled up in the way that 
we have often seen in pictures. Most 
of them were sitting about in groups, 
listless, lazy-looking and unmistakably 
dirty. At Winnemucca, a group of 



22 Jottings of Travel 

Indian girls, of various complexions,, 
one of them rather light in color and 
with pleasing features, were playing at 
ball. They showed themselves graceful 
and agile enough at that. 

We went to sleep while travelling 
through the Nevada desert, but when 
we awoke the next morning we were 
in a garden ; for during the night we 
had crossed the Sierra Nevada, and were 
at last in California. Green, grassy moun- 
tains, fine trees, and all vegetation as far 
advanced as it would be in our part of the 
country in June. On the way to San 
Francisco, I saw bushes covered with 
thick clusters of lovely roses, calla lilies 
growing in the gardens, and field flowers 
in great variety. Especially noticeable, 
both because of its abundance and its 
beauty, was a field poppy of a rich dark 
orange color, which the people here- 
abouts mis-name ''buttercup." 

At about noon we reached Oakland, a 
beautiful suburb of San Francisco, where 



in China and Japan. 23 

we took the steamboat that brought us to 
the city. We have installed ourselves at 
the Palace Hotel, a huge building, unlike 
any other hotel I have yet seen, in the 
fact of its being built around four sides 
of a court-yard, which is roofed in with 
Qflass. Wide oralleries on each of the six 
floors look down into the centre space 
through which the various offices, the 
dining-rooms, etc., are reached. We are 
comfortably quartered here, and this is 
well, for we are told that our stay in San 
Francisco will be five days longer than 
we had expected, as the S. S. San Pablo's 
departure has been postponed from the 
2 1 St to the 26th. We learn at the same 
time, that the S. S. City of Peking sailed 
on the i6th, instead of the 12th. Had we 
known that, Ave might have reached here 
in time to go by that steamer. We 
indulge in no vain regrets on that 
account, however, for we are quite 
willing to believe that a few more days 
of San Francisco can be profitably and 
agreeably spent by us. 



24 Jottings of T^'avel 

Last evening we heard one act of 
Ruddygore. We found the dialogue 
wearisome ; yet, for the sake of the 
music we would gladly have waited to 
the end. But we were tired, the theatre 
was cold, and, after our long experience 
of sleeping-cars, we were somewhat anx- 
ious to sleep in a real bed. 



in CI till a and Japan. 



^3 



II. San Francisco. 

Palace Hotel, 
San Francisco, April 2j, i88j. 

* ^ -sf -iv vr J mentioned my having 
been invited to a Chinese dinner, or rather 
a dinner in a Chinese restaurant, for, in 
deference to the tastes of the Americans 
and Europeans in the company, our host, 
the Chinese Consul-General at this port, 
had arranged that certain American dish- 
es should be provided ; thus, it was, in a 
sense, an international banquet. 

I found it a most enjoyable affair, and 
felt as if I had already entered the Orient. 
The dining-room was prettily ornamented 
with gilt carving of fine workmanship 
and was separated from a sort of sitting- 
room by a partition formed of stained 
glass set in a frame work of ebony and 
more gilt carving. There were nine of 



26 Jottings of Travel 

us at dinner. The table was tastefully 
decorated with flowers, the service was 
excellent, and the menu included such 
tid-bits as bird's-nest stew, snow fungus 
(imported from the North of China, and 
said to be quite costly), sturgeon stew 
with mushrooms and bamboo shoots, 
shark's fins with eggs, rice pasty with 
shrimps, and liche nuts. I made it a 
point to neglect none of these dishes 
and can assure you some of them were 
palatable, and one or two quite delicate. 
Although knives and forks were provided, 
I thought it well to take my first lesson 
in the use of chopsticks, and after a little 
practice I did fairly well with them. 

The Queen of the Sandwich Islands 
and her suite have been staying at this 
hotel for some days. She is an amiable 
looking mulatto woman, about forty-five 
years of age. In honor of her arrival, 
the Hawaiian national colors were dis- 
played, and in the evening there was a 
serenade by the band. She leaves here 



/// China anal Japan. 27 

soon for New York, and proposes to be in 
London in time for the Queen's Jubilee. 

When I speak to Californians of the 
roses and other flowers that bloom here 
so much earlier than the}^ do with us, 
they assure me that the rose bushes are 
just as full of roses, and the grass as 
green and plentiful, in January as at 
present. They go away during the sum- 
mer because it is damp, foggy and chilly, 
and seek points in Southern California 
where it is warm and dry. They grow 
quite enthusiastic on the subject of 
California and its climate, and every 
now and then will tell me, " This is 
God's own country." 

San Francisco is a brisk, bustling sort 
of city, with quite a cosmopolitan air. 
To one used to Philadelphia's quiet ways 
it seems, at first sight, to be about four 
times as large as it really is. There are 
several large and excellent hotels, and 
quite a number of good restaurants. 
One of these is known by the inviting 



28 Jottings of Travel 

name of '' The Pup," another is '' The 
Poodle." If yon value your reputation 
for good judgment and politeness, you 
must not contradict a San Franciscan 
when he tells you that either of these is 
at least as good a restaurant as Delmon- 
ico's or the Hotel Brunswick. 

There are many large business build- 
ings and fine shops of all kinds. Of a 
Saturday afternoon, you will find Kear- 
ney Street thronged with a crowd dense 
enough to remind you of Chestnut Street 
or Broadway at their best. The dwellings 
are nearly all built of wood, suggesting 
the suburban villas of our Eastern cities. 
Many of them are ornate in appearance, 
and the interiors are often elaborately 
finished and lavishly furnished. It is 
thought best not to build of brick or 
stone ; firstly, because of the humid at- 
mosphere during the rainy season, when, 
I imagine, things are not so lovely here- 
abouts as at present; secondly, because 
of the danger of earthquakes. 



/;/ CJiina and Japan. 29 

The city is quite hilly and is crossed in 
different directions by cable cars, which 
are run here far more satisfactorily than 
in Philadelphia or Chicago. Whenever 
you get to the top of one of the hills, you 
have charming views of the beautiful Bay 
and the heights beyond. I shall spare 
you a description of the Park, the Cliff 
House, and the Seal Rocks, but shall 
make up for this by sending you photo- 
graphs of those points of interest. 

The H. family received me with open 
arms. They have made me so welcome, 
and have been so kind in their unremit- 
ting efforts to make my stay here a 
pleasant one, that I shall hate to say 
good-bye to them, for it will seem like 
leaving home a second time. 



30 Jottings of Travel 



III. On the Pacific. 

April 2y, i88y. 

Yesterday, at 1.45 P. M., our carriage 
being in waiting, we started for the 
steamer wharf. The S. S. City of Sydney, 
which had arrived a day or two before, 
was discharging its cargo. The S. S. San 
Jose was also lying alongside of the pier, 
and the busy wharfmen were carrying 
sacks of coffee ashore. 

About a hundred Chinese go with us, 
as steerage passengers. They were ac- 
companied to the wharf^by their friends, 
who helped to swell the crowd. They 
were all provided with the proper certifi- 
cates, allowing them to return to the 
United States; it is pretty well under- 
stood that the certificate always returns 
to our shores, but rarely in the hands of 
him to whom it was originally issued. 
By the time the owner reaches Hong 



in CJiiiia and Japan. 31 

Kong, it has become an asset with a 
well-established market price and a ready 
sale. 

The Chinese Constil-General, the Con- 
sul (Colonel Bee) and the Secretary of 
the Consulate came to the steamer to 
see us off, and to take leave of the two 
mandarins, attaches of the Chinese Lega- 
tion at Berlin, who return by the San 
Pablo. In honor of their presence, the 
yellow flag bearing the device of the 
dragon was displayed, as well as the Stars 
and Stripes. Several gentlemen whose 
acquaintance we made on the train or in 
San Francisco have joined the few 
friends who have come to say good-bye. 
They are, one and all, so pleased with 
the looks of the vessel that they say 
they would like to take the trip with us. 

The hour announced for our depart- 
ure was 2 P. M. At about half-past one 
o'clock we Yv^ere informed that the mail 
train from the East was two hours late, 
and that we would be delayed accord- 



32 Jottings of Travel 

ingly. At a few mintites before four 
o'clock the gang plank was drawn ashore 
and we started on our long voyage. A 
moment later the surface of the water in 
the dock was covered with bits of paper 
of divers colors and sizes, which had 
been thrown overboard by our Chinese 
steerage passengers, as offerings to pro- 
pitiate the water-god. What is to be 
seen while sailing down the beautiful 
Bay of San Francisco and through the 
Golden Gate is so happily described in 
the little book with which we all made 
ourselves so familiar while I was yet at 
home, that I need not write a word about 
it. The broad waters beneath us ; craft 
of many kinds, large and small, around 
and about us ; with the verdure clad hills 
encircling the Bay, for a background : 
formed a picture that I shall long re- 
member. 

In the course of about two hours we 
were out at sea; to use the sailors' ex- 
pression, the water was rather '' humpy/' 



/// China and Japan. 33 

and the wind, blowing strongly from the 
West, was against us. The vessel pitched 
considerably and rolled a little. At about 
half-past six o'clock the gong summoned 
us to dinner. Out of the twenty or more 
saloon passengers, some seven or eight 
put in an appearance, and of the ladies, 
none were to be seen. It was rough all 
evening. At about ten o'clock, after a 
pleasant chat in the smoking-room with 
the Captain, the Purser and a Mr. M., a 
tea and silk merchant on his way to 
Yokohama, I retired. The Captain asked 
me how I was standing it. I told him 
that I was feeling quite comfortable; 
whereupon he remarked, that if I could 
stand that, there was little likelihood of 
my getting sea-sick. 



Grand Hotel, 

Yokohama, May //, /< 

In the letter that I began while on 

shipboard, and which I dated April 27th,, 



34 Jottings of Travel 

the day after we started, I told you about 
our last hours in San Francisco and our 
first experiences at sea. As I have had 
no chance until now to mail what was 
then written, it will go to you with this. 
The S. S. San Pablo was originally 
intended for a coaler, to ply between 
San Francisco and Tacoma, but was char- 
tered by the O. & O. Co. and placed on 
their line. As there were accommoda- 
tions for only six or eight first-class pas- 
sengers, she was re-fitted for the regular 
passenger traffic by the Union Foundry 
Company of San Francisco. A new deck 
was added, with twenty or more state- 
rooms, and arrangements made to accom- 
modate a considerable number of second- 
class and steerage passengers. I had 
made the acquaintance of Captain Reed, 
the officer commanding the San Pablo, 
while in San Francisco, having brought 
a letter of introduction from the builders 
of the vessel, Messrs. Cramp, of Phila- 
delphia. 



1)1 CJiiua and Japan, 35 

This was the first trip made by the 
San Pablo after being thus refitted. 

We passed several ships on the day 
after we left port. After that, not a sail 
was seen until, on the morning of May 
15th, we were steaming up the Bay of 
Yokohama. 

During the long voyage we were fa- 
vored with pleasant weather until the 
last day. We took the course along 
the 37th parallel of north latitude until 
nearing the coast of Japan. Our sails, 
however, were of no use, as, during the 
greater part of the time, we had head 
winds. The steamers that cross the Pa- 
cific are not to be hurried, and the Cap- 
tains are expected to be sparing of the 
coal used. The San Pablo s allowance 
was about forty tons per day. 

The voyage was a leisurely one. Look- 
ing forward to it, it seemed very long; 
looking back, it was so void of incident, 
in its pleasant monotony, as to seem very 
short. Still, it was an important event in 



36 Jottings of Travel 

my life. My first sea voyage, so to say, 
for I had never before that been at sea 
more than a day and a night. I thor- 
oughly enjoyed it, for I was so fortunate 
as not to have one moment of sea-sick- 
ness. I attempted to read, but read very 
little ; I smoked, lounged about, chatted 
with my fellow-passengers, bored myself 
at whist, or joined in the few games on 
deck for the sake of the exercise they 
afforded. It was a never-ending delight 
to watch the ocean, at one time " deeply, 
darkly, beautifully blue," at another gray, 
then green, then of a dull leaden color, 
almost black ; now almost as smooth as 
a mill-pond, except for the long swell 
with which our vessel would slowly rise 
and then as gently sink again, and at 
other seasons playful or angry by turns. 

Late on Friday, May 6th, we crossed the 
line (the i8oth meridian) and lost a day, 
leaving Saturday out of that week. Ves- 
sels going East gain a day at this point 
and thu.s take up what has been lost. If 



in China and Japan. 37 

there be less travelling in one direction 
than in the other, there must be a number 
of dropped days there waiting for some 
one to take them in and make use of 
them. 

One advantage of travelling by water 
instead of on land is that you save the 
expense of a linen duster. Unfortunately, 
however, while you escape the dust, you 
cannot, unless you go by sailing vessel, so 
easily avoid the cinders. One got lodged 
in my eye and gave me much pain for 
several days, until I called on the ship's 
doctor for relief. With the aid of an 
instrument, he removed it, but the eye 
had become so inflamed that it required 
treatment for some days afterward. 

Our diversions were of the mildest. 
One day we were all invited to a '' four 
o'clock tea," our hostess being a Mrs. T., 
wife of a prosperous tea merchant of 
Yokohama and Kobe. As she said she 
must have some one to '' bring out " on 
the occasion, she pitched upon Mr. M., a 



38 Jottings of Travel 

portly, middle-aged gentleman, as her deb- 
utant. We had tea galore, with singing 
and guitar playing, and the tea was much 
better than the music. One of our Chi- 
nese friends played on a Chinese flute 
and afterward sang some Chinese comic 
songs, which were quite caterwaulish. All 
of the saloon passengers had been invited 
and none sent regrets. It was considered 
a pleasant break in the day, and, for that 
matter, in the trip. We had been at sea 
for fourteen or fifteen days. After so long 
a voyage, the most enthusiastic lover of 
old ocean must, I opine, be glad to hear 
the words : " Land ahead !" 

There was much sociability among the 
passengers. Introductions were unneces- 
sary. I have renewed acquaintance with 
many old anecdotes and had the great 
good luck of getting rid of some of my 
old ones, at par. 

On the 14th of May, the last day out, we 
had a stiff gale with a heavy rain-storm. 
It began in the morning and lasted until 



in China and Japan. 39 

nightfall, leaving the sky black and the 
sea very rough. In the opinion of the 
Captain and the First Officer, the velocity 
of the wind was between seventy and 
eighty miles per hour. When it was all 
over, they told us that we had passed 
through a severe and dangerous storm,, 
and that it had blown strongly enough for 
a typhoon. In my ignorance, I was not 
aware of the danger, but quite sensible 
of the discomfort, for the vessel pitched 
and rolled so violently as to make it 
difficult to move about without holding 
on to something. I had managed to- 
make my way along the slippery deck^, 
from the smoking-room to the door of the 
saloon, and was about to step inside, when 
the vessel gave a sudden lurch that sent 
me flying in the other direction, until the 
rail stopped me from going any further. 
When I got up I was, with the exception 
of a few scratches, none the worse for my 
fall. At dinner it required skilful man- 
agement to prevent your soup from travel- 



40 Jottings of Travel 

ling across table, and the only way to 
avoid having your wine spilled was to 
drink it off as soon as it was poured out. 
I did not mind the discomfort, but gave 
up almost the entire day to watching 
the huge waves that would now and 
then dash over the roof of the saloon 
and the smoking-room. I was gratified 
at beholding the storm and at being in 
it, and yet my curiosity in that direction 
was so fully satisfied by that day's expe- 
rience, that, instead of wishing for a worse, 
I trust I may never again be in so vio- 
lent a one. I was not afraid, except as 
realizing that one is always in danger 
while on the water. While I knew that, 
for the time being, our risk was increased, 
I had enough confidence in the ship's 
officers not to worry. 

On the next morning, May 15th, I 
awoke at about half -past four o'clock. 
Looking out of my port window, I saw 
that the sun was shining brightly and 
that two fishing junks were passing us, 



in CJiiiia aiid Japan. 41 

outward bound. It did not take me long 
to dress and hurry on deck, where I found 
most of the passengers already assem- 
bled. We were steaming up Yokohama 
Bay. On either side of us w^ere the green 
shores of Japan, and Fujiama (i. e. the 
peerless mountain), snow-capped and in 
majestic beauty, was plainly seen, al- 
though about seventy miles distant. 
The blue water, the glorious sky, the 
pretty gardens, the brilliant verdure, the 
odd-looking bungalows, the queerly-built 
craft in the shape of junks and sam- 
pans, with their swarthy, sinewy, half- 
naked crews — all combined to make a 
scene that I shall never forget. All 
seemed so new, so strange, so beautiful, 
that in my enthusiasm I felt it would 
have been worth making the journey of 
some eight thousand miles, if only for 
the sake of experiencing the delights 
of that joyous entry into Japan. 

It was about eight o'clock in the morn- 
ing when we dropped anchor before 



42 Jottings of Travel 

Yokohama, and a little while later the 
crowd of sampans that we had seen 
coming out to m^eet us drew up along- 
side of the San Pablo,^ Boatmen and 
runners were soon jostling each other 
in the effort to be first on the com- 
panion ladder that led to the steerage, 
for their business lay chiefly in that 
quarter. In the meanwhile, small steam 
launches had arrived ; one to carry away 
the mails, another in the service of the 
steamer company, and still another from 
the Grand Hotel. We embarked on this, 
gladly giving up the chance of another 
breakfast on the San Pablo for the sake 
of once more enjoying a meal on land. 
In less than ten minutes from that time 
I stepped ashore at the English hatoba 
(landing place), paid my respects to 
the polite custom-house officers, jumped 



*See Appendix, under the caption "Chinese 
Pirates," for an account of the wreck of the ill-fated 
San Pablo. 



/// China and Japan. 43 

into a jin-ricsJia (the one-man phaeton 
which is the principal vehicle in this 
country), and was hurried along the 
Bund to the Grand Hotel. 



44 Jottings of Travel 



IV. Yokohama. 

Yokohama, May //, i88y. 

^ * ^ -^ In the two days that have 
passed since my arrival I have seen much 
of Yokohama, and my appetite for sight- 
seeing seems to grow with every hour. 

Our friends have gone to the races. 
This is a sort of holiday with the for- 
eign population of Yokohama. As it is 
an English or Am^erican, rather than 
a Japanese institution, I shall, instead 
of going to the grounds, devote this after- 
noon to letter writing. 

We are very comfortably fixed at the 
Grand Hotel. If the dining-room is not 
a Babel in the way of noise, it is one so 
far as a '' confusion of tongues " can go 
to make it so. It seems to be a gathering 
place for specimens (not always of the 



i)i China and Japan. 45 

choicest) of all sorts of ncitionalities ; for 
you can meet Americans, Englishmen, 
Frenchmen, Germans, Dutch, Spaniards, 
Russians, Hindoos and even Armenians 
there. The servants are Japanese, the 
steward is a Chinaman who speaks excel- 
lent French, the clerk in charo^e of the 
office is Portugnese, the comprador is of 
course a Chinaman and, if I remember 
rightly, the night watchman is a Walla- 
chian. 

As it has been deemed advisable to de- 
fer going to China until we have called 
on some of the Japanese gentlemen to 
whom we bear letters of introduction, 
we have postponed our departure for 
Shanghai for at least a week. Our orig- 
inal plan was to go to-day. 

To-morrow, we hope to visit Tokio, the 
capital, and, from what I have heard, 
we are likely to find the old city even 
more interesting than Yokohama. 

You have probably read so much about 
the Japanese booths (one-story wooden 



46 Jottings of Travel 

structures, with the whole front opening 
on the sidewalk), and have seen so many 
pictures of these low buildings with their 
odd-looking tile roofs, that you know what 
they are without any description of mine. 
The real enjoyment is to see whole streets 
of them ; to see the tailor, the butcher, the 
sandal-maker and the fish merchant plying 
their various trades ; to see the wilder- 
ness of babies, for they are met with at 
every turn, of all sorts and sizes and in 
appalling profusion ; and then, again, to 
pass through the same streets after 
nightfall, when colored paper lanterns 
are hung up in front of every booth. 

The last letter I received from home 
reached me on the day I left San Fran- 
cisco, April 26th. If at Shanghai I can 
intercept any letters for me that may be 
on their way to Pekin, I shall try to do 
so. But even in that case I shall have to 
wait until, say, a fortnight hence, thus 
making it some five weeks, or more, be- 
tween letters. A long time, truly. I 



/// China and Japan. 47 

trust that they ma}^ bring me good news 
from all of you. 

•x- 7f -:•:- -x- -^ -:<- -k- 

Our hotel is delightfully situated on 
the Bund, the name by which the high- 
way along the water front is designated 
in these Eastern cities. It affords a fine 
view of the beautiful Bay, which has a 
peaceful, quiet look, but which, I am told, 
can be very turbulent, and often is so, 
at very short notice. 

The evenings in such a place are, as 
a rule, very quiet. Sometimes, late at 
night, when all the guests have retired, 
I find it pleasant enough to light a cigar 
and take mv seat on the veranda. The 
Wallachian watchman, going his rounds, 
will stop for a minute's chat, and then 
will leave me to myself and my thoughts 
of what the day has brought and taught 
me, of the people I have met, of the 
sights I have seen, and of the friends at 
home. The silence is broken at intervals 
by the passing of a group of jin-ricsJias, 



48 Jottings of Travel 

conveying their passengers homeward 
from some festive gathering, the spell of 
which is still evident in the noisy gayety 
of the merry riders. 

Then, too, there is the shampooer or 
rubber, usually a blind man, who wanders 
the streets at night seeking employment, 
and obtaining it, too. He carries a little 
fife or flute, on which he sounds two 
notes, an ascending fifth, so that those 
who are weary and yet unable to sleep 
may know of his coming. His fees are 
ridiculously low when compared with 
those of our artists in massage, although 
I am told his work is equally as good as 
theirs. 

But, for that matter, the wages of 
native laborers are said to range be- 
tween 20 and 30 sen per day. The sen 
equals about four-fifths of an American 
cent. These are city wages ; in the coun- 
try districts they are even lower. This 
opens up a subject on which I am temp- 
ted to enlarge, but I am afraid of weary- 



in China and Japan. 49 

ing you ; and, putting the better reason 
last, I am not, as yet, sufficiently familiar 
with economic conditions hereabouts to 
feel like hazarding a judgment upon 
them. 

From what I have seen and heard thus 
far, I should conclude that, while there 
are a few rich Japanese, the average of 
wealth is quite low. On the other hand, 
it would seem that the masses are con- 
tent with their condition, and their sim- 
ple wants such as are easily gratified, 
even with the pittance their daily toil 
ensures them. 

These remarks do not, however, apply 
to what may be called Young Japan, 
that large and growing section of the 
population that has eagerly welcomed 
Western methods, and that, in science, 
law, commerce and finance has done so 
much for Japanese progress. When I 
use the word large in this connection, I 
have in view the character and influence 
of the people forming this class, rather 



50 Jottings of Travel 

than their numbers. The Japanese 
have shown great powers of adaptation 
in taking tip foreign ideas, and very con- 
siderable skill in carrying them out. 
Their telegraph service is an excellent 
one ; the post-office is equally efficient ; 
their system of national banks and their 
decimal currency are based on American 
methods, indeed, but they have been be- 
fore us in establishing postal savings 
banks. 

But enough of this for to-day. One 
of my ways of passing my time here is 
to write letters. The reading will not 
take as long as the writing of them, and 
yet they may weary you if I dwell too 
long on such serious topics. Indeed, I 
have more than once imagined you ask- 
ing yourself : " Do all people who take 
their first journey have this tiresome 
way of assuming that nobody else has 
ever been anywhere ? " 



in China and Japan. 51 



V. YOKOHAMA-TOKIO. 

Yokohama, May 18, i88y. 
We left the hotel at about 9 o'clock this 
morning, and, seated in jin-ricsJias, were 
soon hurrying along the Bund ; thence, 
through one of the cross streets, or rather 
lanes, lined on either side with go-dozvns, 
low, one-story warehouses, devoted to 
tea-firing and other commercial uses^ 
into Main Street, where the Hong Kong 
and Shanghai Banking Corporation and 
other financial institutions have their 
offices. Leaving Main Street, we entered 
the Honcho-dori, where some of the best 
shops for curios, pottery, bronzes, silks 
and lacquer ware are to be found, and 
after two or three more turns we at last 
alighted at the railway station, a large 
building of brick and stone. On entering, 



52 Jottings of Trazrel 

we met a crowd of Japanese, wlio had just 
alighted from an arriving train, and whose 
wooden sandals made quite a clatter on 
the asphalt pavement. Everything in 
and about the station betokened neat- 
ness and careful managemxcnt. The nar- 
row-gauge tracks (the rails three feet 
apart), the small cars, and the diminu- 
tive-looking engines, suggested a railway 
in miniature. The coaches are arranged 
for three classes of passengers. The 
first, with their soft, cushioned seats, are 
warm, stuffy and expensive ; the second 
are quite comfortable and are used in- 
discriminately by foreigners and natives ; 
the third have simple wooden benches ; 
as a rule, these carry only Japanese 
passengers, and at a very low price. 

The railway from Yokohama to Tokio 
is only eighteen miles in length and the 
trip lasts about forty-five minutes. The 
first station is Kanagawa, which, al- 
though an older settlement, is, in effect, 
a suburb of Yokohama, which has grown 



/// China and Japan. 53 

out towards it. On the left there are 
pretty hills for some distance along the 
route ; on the right, the Bay. We pass 
numbers of paddy-tields, in which we see 
natives working in the mud, into which 
they have sunk so deep that only the up- 
per portion of their bodies is visible. It 
looks like dirty work, and one might 
search far and wide to find a more un- 
clean-looking set of husbandmen. We 
are told, however, that every one of these 
laborers will cleanse himself in a hot bath 
when the day's work is done. If report 
speaks truly, the Japanese are a nation of 
bathers. The '* daily tub" is a national 
institution ; and that they think a bath 
must be a hot one, I have already been 
taught by my boy at the hotel. 

As we approach Tokio we see the forts 
in the Bay and large numbers of freight- 
laden junks and lighters bringing mer- 
chandise of various kinds from Yoko- 
hama. There are no large vessels in 
these shoal waters, but the smaller craft 



54 Jottings of Travel 

do quite a profitable business, as the 
greater portion of the freig-ht is sent up 
from Yokohama by water, because the 
rates by railway are almost prohibitory. 
The railway does a large passenger 
business. Trains run in either direction 
almost hourly, and the company's facili- 
ties are taxed to the utmost. Additional 
tracks will be needed if it is intended to 
compete with the junks and lighters for 
the freight traffic. There can, however, 
hardly be a doubt that it would pay to 
make the outlay. Perhaps the first cost 
of the road has frightened the company 
out of the notion of more track-laying. 
This, the first railway built in Japan, 
involved, in proportion to the size of the 
plant, an enormous outlay. No one seems 
to know exactly what it did cost, but 
such figures have been named as make 
railway engineers shrug their shoulders 
and wonder where all the money can have 
gone. Nevertheless, the Japanese may 
be congratulated on having a pretty 



/;/ China ami Japan, 55 

little railway, on which the service is 
excellent. It was the beginning- of the 
railway system in this country. At the 
present writing there are, I understand, 
some four hundred miles of railroads in 
the Empire, with numerous additional 
lines projected or already under way. 
The Tokio-Yokohama line was built at 
government expense, which may in part 
explain why it cost so much. There is 
no need of one's travelling so far from 
home to find similar instances of a lavish 
use of public "funds. The present policy 
of the government is to encourage the 
forming of joint stock companies for such 
purposes, leaving private persons to take 
the initiative ; thus rendering it tolerably 
certain that future undertakings will be 
based on the actual needs of the commu- 
nity and will be conducted with proper 
economy. When credit becomes cheaper, 
capital more abundant, and speculation 
rampant, they may still further emulate 
the example of American railway pro- 



'56 Jottings of Travel 

meters by paralleling routes, watering 
stock, and cutting rates. May such a 
season be long deferred. In the mean- 
while, however, they might benefit them- 
selves and certain American manufac- 
turers, by giving the latter a chance to 
prove the superiority of our locomotives 
and railway equipment to those of Brit- 
ish manufacture. 

The terminus of the road is at Shinba- 
shi Station in Tokio. When we reached 
the street we found ourselves in a wil- 
derness of jm-ricshas, carts and carriers, 
and soon realized that we were in an 
older, larger, greater and dirtier city 
than the young and clean-looking Yoko- 
hama that we had left only a little while 
before. 

As we wanted to see all that- was to be 
seen, we thought it better to walk than 
-to ride, and started for the Ginza, the 
main thoroughfare of Tokio. It is a wide 
street, with shops on either side and tram- 
way cars running through the centre. 



i)i China and Japati. 57 

We walked for a long while, but found 
the shops less interesting than those of 
Yokohama. In Tokio the chief business 
is with Japanese, and the articles dealt in 
are, for the greater part, such as enter into 
their daily wants. There are in certain 
quarters many large establishments 
devoted entirely to the wholesale trade, 
and these ha^-e a busy, prosperous look. 
Tourists, who usually confine their 
purchases to objects of ornament, can 
find better shops for what they want at 
Yokohama and, I am told, at Kobe, Kioto 
and Nagasaki. 

After tramping along the hot and 
dusty Ginza for an hour or more, we 
began to weary of the interminable rows 
of two-story buildings and the tedious 
repetition of shops for cigarettes and 
smoker's articles, for American and Euro- 
pean drinks, for hats, dried fish, paper, tea, 
crockery% baskets, and what not, but our 
interest in the crowds of foot-passengers 
and jin-ricsJia riders was unabated. The 



58 Jottings of Travel 

cross streets seemed to be just as densely 
built, and with the end nowhere in sight 
from the Ginsa ; although, with one or 
two exceptions, they were less crowded. 

Tokio is said to contain a population 
of about 1,000,000, and has over 3,000 
temples. As few of the houses are more 
than two stories high, it is easy to 
understand why it covers so large a 
space, for its area is about the same as 
that of London. It seems to be an 
aggregation of villages which have 
grown out towards one another until the 
interspaces have all been filled up, 
making, as a grand total, the present 
capital of Japan. These various villages, 
in most instances, furnish the names of 
the districts into which the city is 
divided. In this vast place, there are, all 
told, about 1 50 Americans and Europeans. 

The Japanese were nearly all in native 
costume. The greater portion of those 
who wore the European dress were young 
men, presumably officials or professors. 



in C/it)ia and Japa}i. 59 

Those in Japanese dress, whether male or 
female, were almost invariably provided 
with fan, pipe, tobacco-pouch and paper 
umbrella. Some of the attempts to com- 
bine the fashions of the East and the 
West were both incong-ruous and amus- 
ing. 

Two jiii-ricsJia coolies, who had marked 
us for their own as soon as they saw us at 
the Shinbashi station, had followed us all 
this time, and had, every few moments, 
asked us to get in and ride. One of them 
knew a few words of English and had 
done us some slight service in our deal- 
ings with various shopkeepers on the 
Ginza, He was a bright fellow, with an 
engaging smile, and, like all of his 
countrymen I have thus far met, polite 
and obliging. 

It was high noon. We were warm, 
tired and hungry, and, seating ourselves 
in the jin-ricshas, we directed our boys to 
take us to the Sey-yo-Ken restaurant. 
After a ride of about a quarter of an hour 



6o Jottings of Travel 

we found ourselves within the borders of 
the beautiful Uyeno Park, travelling along 
a wide, smooth road, under fine old shade 
trees, whose foliage sheltered us from the 
heat and the glare of the noon-day sun. 
Turning to the left, we soon reached the 
restaurant to which we had been directed 
by mine host Wolf, of the Grand Hotel. 
It is kept by Japanese ; but, as the meals 
are served in the European style, tables 
and chairs are provided for the guests. 
We thought it well to take our tiffin 
(luncheon) in the pretty garden, rather 
than sit in-doors, and were soon served 
with a nicely prepared meal, to which, 
after the morning's exertions, we were in 
a mood to do full justice. 

Seated at one of the tables there was 
an elderl}^ Japanese gentleman convers- 
ing with a young, florid-looking English- 
man. They both used the language of 
the country. Although I could not 
understand more than a word or two now 
and then, I watched the pair with much 



i)i China ai/d Japan. 6 1 

interest, for I was attracted by the wise 
and complacent air of the old man as well 
as by the fine spirits and health}^ appear- 
ance of the Itisty youth. 

We were in no huny to leave the qniet, 
peaceful place, and lingered there for 
some time after luncheon, watching the 
rooks that were flying about in great num- 
bers. The adjoining bell-tower and the 
trees were full of them, and their inces- 
sant cawing suggested the query whether 
the rook is the chief singing bird of 
Japan. 

The Park and the temple within its 
borders both take their name from the 
district (Uyeno) in which they are situa- 
ted. As I have been informed that I 
shall find the temples of Shiba and Asa- 
kusa more interesting than that at Uyeno, 
I shall spare you a description of the 
latter. 

We visited the Exposition building, 
also in the Park, in which we saw attrac- 
tive exhibits of Japanese work in enamels. 



62 Jottings of Travel 

bronzes, pottery, painting, lacquered ware 
and fans, as well as in sucli lines as 
chemicals, bnilders' hardware, joiners' 
work, paper-hangings, etc. Among the 
paintings there were numerous speci- 
mens in oil, after the European manner 
as to perspective and the treatment of 
color. They left much to be desired, and 
were vastly inferior to the work in the 
true Japanese style, the most noteworthy 
examples of which were the screens. 

At one end of the large building, a 
military band of about fifty performers, 
all of them natives, were playing a selec- 
tion from LAfricaine, in excellent style. 
The Japanese crowded about the music 
pavilion, listening intently, as it seemed, 
although I could not help wondering 
whether they think the Western music 
equal to the caterwaulish strains of their 
own gaishas, and the tum-tum accompani- 
ment of the sainisen or koto. I have asked 
several Japanese gentlemen who, while 



in China and Japan. 63 

pursuing their studies in Europe or 
America, cultivated a taste for what nous 
mitres call music, to enlighten me on this 
point. In every instance, they told me 
that, while they prefer '' European" music, 
thev are nevertheless swayed by the spell 
of their own national melodies and the 
words to which they are set. I can easil}' 
believe that part of it, but how they can 
enjoy both kinds passes my understand- 
ing. 

But, sooner or later, all things must 
end, even this long letter. I have nearly 
got to the end of this sheet and shall not 
begin another to-night. 

Our day had been a tolerably busy one, 
as you will probably conclude by the time 
you have read thus far. So, as it was 
already quite late in the afternoon, we 
left the Exposition building, jumped into 
our jin-ricshas, and were soon travelling 
along the Ginza, which we found still 
more thronged than it had been in the 



64 Jottings of Travel 

morning. Reaching the Shinbashi sta- 
tion, we took the train and returned to 
Yokohama. 



China and Japan. 65 



VI. Shiba. 

Since I last wrote you, I have again 
been in Tokio, the object of my visit be- 
ing to see the Temple of Shiba, of which 
you can get a good idea from the excellent 
photographs I send you by this mail. 
There are several temples, and it is safe 
to say they are prettier by far in the 
nicely-colored sun-pictures than in reality, 
for, like everything in Tokio, they have a 
dusty look and would be the better for a 
coat of paint. 

So much for first impressions. In spite 
of them, I thoroughly enjoyed the hour 
and a half that I spent roaming about 
the grounds. The place was impressive 
because of its death-like silence. Except- 
ing a half-starved looking Japanese youth 



66 Jottings of Travel 

who followed me at a respectful distance, 
but whose curiosity would not permit him 
to take his eyes off of me, I was alone 
while I trod the pebble pavement, wan- 
dered through the darkened groves, or 
tried to count the many stone lanterns, 
votive offerings, whose inscriptions were 
to me illegible and, for that reason, per- 
haps, the more impressive. 

In the temples, I found enough to inter- 
est me in the grotesque carvings of the 
eaves and the heavy portals, in the odd 
mixture of real art and tawdry ornament 
on and about the altars, and in the de- 
serted appearance of the buildings, em- 
phasized in this instance by the presence 
of a solitary priest in the smaller and 
brighter looking one. But the impression 
I brought away with me was due rather 
to the dismal beauty of the temple 
grounds. There are giant trees, whose 
great trunks and sturdy branches show 
their age, but whose rich, thick foliage, 
shutting out the sunlight, prove it to be 



/';/ China and Japan. 67 

a "green old age." I lingered there long 
after I had beheld all that was to be seen. 
As I am not learned in other people's 
religions, I indulged in no philosophic 
reflections on Buddhism or Shinto-ism. I 
could not, however, help thinking that 
the Shiba temples, in their emptiness, 
seemed to say that all who had ever wor- 
shipped there had long since emigrated 
to the land of spirits. Once upon a time 
Shiba was a great shrine, and it is easy 
to imagine the vast enclosure thronged 
with pilgrims from all parts of Japan, 
paying obeisance to Buddhist priests, 
rendering homage to the pot-bellied 
images, and devoutly tending the lamps 
in the stone lanterns. It must have 
been a brilliant scene, rich with color 
effects and instinct with life and motion. 
Whether they beat the tam-ta^n then, as 
I heard them beating it outside of one of 
the Homura temples the other day, I 
cannot say. But of one thing I am sure 
— there must have been lots of babies 



68 Jottings of Travel 

there, for I never saw a real Japanese 
crowd without them. Some of the babies 
that you see during your walks, are really 
the handsomest creatures in Japan. 

If I were attem±pting to indulge in fine 
writing, I should consider it quite a happy 
hit thus to lug in the infants; for the 
mere mention of them in connection with 
Shiba, suggests life, where now all is 
silent as death. 



ill China and Japaji. 69 



VII. A Fire in Yokohama. 

Grand Hotel, 
Yokohama, May Bph, i88y. 

This is a general holida}^ among the 
Europeans and Americans residing here. 
Business of nearly all kinds is suspended, 
for it is Queen Victoria's birthday. 
Although it is more especially an English 
holiday, foreigners of all nationalities 
seem to take part in its observance. 

The weather is perfect, the sky is 
cloudless, except near the opposite shore 
of lovely Yokohama Bay ; the air is soft 
and balmy, hardl}^ stirring the waters 
into a ripple. A little while ago, just 
before I came in-doors, it was a pretty 
sight to watch the boats carry the Ameri- 
can marines and sailors, who assisted in 
the celebration, back to our vessels of 



yo Jottings of Travel 

war, the Brooklyn^ the Omaha, the PaloSy 
and the Monocacy, all of which are 
stationed here at present. There are also 
French, English and Russian frigates, as 
well as merchant steamers of various 
nationalities, lying at anchor before the 
town. 

When our boys marched past here on 
their way to the boats it sounded quite 
natural to hear the band of the Brooklyn 
play "Marching through Georgia." The 
melody is not a beautiful one, but it 
reminded me of home, and was enjoyed 
the more on that account. 

I am not in the habit of running to 
fires in Philadelphia, but I have just 
witnessed one here, and found much 
entertainment in the spectacle, although 
when I got back to the hotel I found 
that an intaglio that I had worn attached 
to my watch chain had parted company 
with me whilst in the crowd. 

Shortly after luncheon I went to the 
Japanese suburban village of Homura, to 



/;/ China and Japan. J I 

make a small purchase. I had finished 
my business and was examining some 
painted screens which the polite shop- 
keeper was showing me, when a young 
girl rushed into the shop to inform him. 
that there was a fire. Without another 
word, he left me, hurriedly exchanged his 
straw sandals for wooden ones, and 
darted dow^n the street. Curious to see 
how they order these things in Japan, I 
followed him, and was soon one of the 
motley crowd that rushed over the bridge 
connecting Homura with Yokohama. 

The fire was in Chinatown, in the es- 
tablishment of a shoemaker, opposite to 
Mr. Cock-Eye's tailor shop and next door 
to Mr. Ah- Why's carpenter shop. It was- 
a sort of sailors' quarter, and close hy 
were quite a number of low-looking 
places with high sounding titles, such as 
Cafe de rUnivers, Boiilangerie Provencale^ 
A la descente des Mar ins, etc. Chinese 
shopkeepers, Japanese men, women and 
babies, Chinese and Japanese coolies. 



^2 Jottings of Travel 

American sailors, and an assorted lot of 
Europeans, helped to make up the crowd. 
With the exception of the Germans and 
Americans who belong to the fire com- 
pany, all were more or less excited. 
Japanese policemen, clad in white duck 
uniforms, were present in large numbers, 
and were running hither and thither as if 
bewildered. There were also several 
Japanese bearing long poles, at the top of 
which there was a painted cube or sphere, 
from which strips of paper were hanging. 
These devices were to represent the fire- 
god, whose presence is expected to put 
out the fire; or, that failing, to prevent 
its extending. 

The crowd was a docile one and was 
easily kept outside of the line. When I 
had spent some time watching the China- 
men bringing their effects out of the 
burning building, and was wondering how 
they had managed to stow away so much 
trash in so small a place, they were still 
at it. Finally, when the house was 



/;/ Chi)ia and Japan. 73 

destroyed there came a party with long- 
bamboo ladders, which they rested against 
the next building, and, without any appa- 
rent reason, for the danger was over, they 
clambered up and down like so many 
monkeys. Fires usually do great damage 
in such towns as this, and thus the excite- 
ment is easily accounted for. I would 
have been sorry to miss seeing the crowd, 
which was interesting because of the 
varied elements of which it was composed. 

I have been at Tokio three times, have 
visited several Buddhist temples, have 
seen no end of Japanese curios, beauti- 
ful pottery, fine lacquered ware, superb 
bronzes and delicate carvings. Although 
I shall never become learned in those 
things, the terms Satsuma, Kaga, Owari, 
Hizen, etc., have more of a meaning for 
me than ever before. The curio shops of 
Yokohama are better worth visiting than 
those of Tokio. 

The natural beauties of this country 
(and I am told there are greater in store 



74 Jottings of Travel 

for me than any I have yet seen) cannot, 
it seems to me, be too highly praised. 
The finest flowers here (this is the home 
of the Chrysanthemum and the Camellia 
Japonica) are odorless. 



in China and Japan. 75 



VIII. A Japanese Restaurant. 

YokoJiania, May 2j, iSSj. 

I arose at a late hour this morning", 
having had a somewhat uncomfortable 
night. Nothing more than a cold shiver 
now and then, that caused me to fear that 
I had a touch of malaria. Having kept 
well thus far, I had no notion of succumb- 
ing to the climate, and so began the day 
with a dose of quinine. When I got 
down stairs it was half past eight o'clock. 
At eleven o'clock, I took the train for 
Tokio, where I had an appointment with 
Mr. Ngato Shiraishi, Professor of Engi- 
neering at the Imperial College of Japan, 
and also with Mr. R. Masujima, President 
of the Law School and one of the leading 
lawyers of Japan. 

The railway ride to Tokio was not the 



J^) Jottings of Travel 

less interesting because of its being the 
fourth time I made the trip. The names 
of Kanagawa, Tsurumi, Omori, and the 
other stations have already quite a 
familiar sound, although, much as it is 
with us at home, I would defy anyone 
to recognize them as pronounced by the 
railway officials. On the train I met Mr. 
Robertson, of Van Tine & Co., the New 
York importers of Chinese and Japanese 
goods, and Dr. Eldridge, of Yokohama. 
Mr. Robertson, having learned from my 
good friend H. M. Roberts, Esq., -of Yoko- 
hama, that I intend to visit China, gave 
me some useful information and advice 
anent travelling in that country. Dr. 
Eldridge has been in Japan about seven- 
teen years, having at first been in the 
employ of the Government. He is now 
practising medicine at Yokohama, and 
also delivers lectures on Medical Jtiris- 
prudence at the Tokio Law School. When 
I spoke to him of the politeness of the 
Japanese, he remarked that it is much 



2?t CJiina and Japan. yy 

less elaborate than in former years, and 
added that, with many of the people, the 
old-time Japanese politeness has disap- 
peared, while nothing has been adopted 
as a substitute for it. It was not an in- 
frequent occurrence, during the earlier 
years of his residence in this country, to 
see two daiinios, meeting on the road, 
alight from their horses and spend quite 
a while in the bowing and scraping that 
the rigid etiquette of the olden time pre- 
scribed. Having gone through the proper 
motions, they would again mount their 
steeds, and each would go his way. 

I mentioned the playing of the band of 
the Brooklyn yesterday, and told the Doc- 
tor how much I had enjoyed hearing the 
strains of '' Marching through Georgia," 
although any other American air would 
have served equally well. Whereupon, 
reviewing olden memories of his own, he 
told me how, on the first or second night 
after his arrival at Tokio, he was sitting, 
lonely and just a little homesick, in his 



78 ^ Jottings of Travel 

room, afraid to venture out of doors with- 
out a guard, for in those days the feeling 
against the foreigner was strong, and two- 
sworded bravos would waylay him if he 
came their way. When he was in the 
depths of the '' blues " he heard steps on 
the veranda, and some one near by 
whistling " Marching through Georgia." 
A moment later, a young Japanese en- 
tered and, introducing himself, said, ''I 

am , and have been assigned as your 

secretary and interpreter." 

After exchanging greetings, the Doc- 
tor's first words were : '' I heard some one 
whistling, a moment ago. Can you tell 
m.e who it was ? " 

The young man stammered an apology, 
saying, " It was I ; I didn't know you 
Y/ere so near by. Please excuse me." 

'' Don't apologize," answered the Doctor. 
" I am really much obliged to you." 

While I am in the story-telling mood, 
I will give you a good mot that I heard a 
few evenings since. While dining with 



i)i China and Japan. 79 

us, a guest to whom a glass of wine was 
offered thus excused himself for declin- 
ing to accept it : 

*' Many years ago, when I was quite a 
young man, I was an attache of our lega- 
tion at . My chief employment was 

to wait upon the Minister every morning 
and consult with him upon the vicnii for 
the dinner of that day. My judgment of 
wines was, for one so young as I, quite a 
good one, and I had a fine field for its 
exercise. Well, to make a short story of 
a long one, the Minister is dead, and I 
have the gout. So, please excuse me." 

I lunched at the Tokio Club, where, at 
about 2 P. M., Mr. Shiraishi called for me. 
We visited the Technological Department 
of the Tokio College (or University, I 
forget which), where I was shown through 
several of the rooms. I was especially 
pleased with the large and well-lighted 
library, containing about 20,000 volumes, 
and the laboratory. 

After that, as I had expressed a wish to 



8o Jottings of Travel 

see some Japanese acrobats, we took jin- 
ricshas and started for a place where an 
exhibition of wrestling was to be given. 
It was at quite a distance from the Col- 
lege. On our way we passed by the walls 
and moat that surround the former palace 
of the Tycoon, saw the barracks of the 
Imperial Guard, the parade ground where 
squads of soldiers were going through a 
drill in gymnastics, and, travelling through 
a section of Tokio that was new to me, I 
was again impressed by the great size of 
the city. Finally, we reached the place 
where the show was to be given, only to 
find it closed. 

Thereupon, Mr. S. suggested that we 
visit a Japanese restaurant, one not fre- 
quented by Europeans, but in which the 
customs of the country are observed. It 
was one of the best class. On entering, 
we were met by a number of attendants, 
male and female, who knelt on the ground 
and in token of welcome bent their bodies 
until their foreheads touched the floor. 



/;/ China and Japan. 8 1 

Every portion of the house was scrupu- 
lously clean, and, to prevent its being 
soiled with the dirt of the street, all who 
enter are expected to take off their shoes 
at the threshold and either walk about in 
their stocking feet or wear the straw san- 
dals that are provided for their use. We 
did as we were bid to do, and were then 
shown into a room on the second floor. 
There were no chairs ; but pretty cushions 
were brought, that we might squat upon 
them. The floor was of straw matting ; 
not carpet-wise as we use it, but in slabs 
about two inches in thickness and, say, 
three feet by six in size. The one side of 
the room was of sash work, with panes of 
glass running across the centre, while the 
top and bottom were ''glazed" with paper. 
The girl who waited on us was prettily 
dressed ; her hair was elaborately arranged 
and was quite glossy with the cocoanut 
oil that had been used in dressing it ; her 
feet were bare. 

She brought us various dishes and 



82 Jottings of Travel 

some sake, or millet wine. It tastes much, 
like dry sherry, and is served warm. I 
wrestled with the chopsticks and essayed 
some of the dishes. Then we sent for 
gaishas (singing and dancing girls). Two 
came. The dancing was stupid and the 
singing doleful. The singer accompanied 
herself on the saniisen and sang in such 
style that I could not see what need there 
v/as for her being so particular about 
tuning her instrument. 

As it was getting late in the afternoon, 
I left in order to attend a dinner of the 
faculty of the Law School, to which Mr. 
Masujima had kindly invited me. Mr. M. 
was one of the projectors of the institu- 
tion, which, although started only a few 
years ago, already has some 1,200 or 1,300 
students and a faculty of about twenty- 
five professors. Among the invited guests 
were Consul Greathouse and Mr. Sidmore, 
his assistant; Mr. Litchfield, an English 
barrister residing at Yokohama, and Mr. 
George T. Bromley, late U. S. Consul at 



i?t China and Japan. 83 

Tientsin. Excepting myself, the rest of 
the company consisted of Japanese 
lawyers and judges. The evening was a 
very pleasant one. There were some 
excellent speeches and a cordial inter- 
change of congratulations on the un- 
doubted success of the Law School. The 
party broke up at about 9 P.M., and, 
taking the 9.45 P.M. train, I returned to 
Yokohama. 



84 Jottings of Travel 



IX. Some Japanese Customs. 

Yokohama, May 26th, i88y. 
There are various odd features (that 
is, they seem odd to a stranger) that are 
worth noting. For instance, I do not 
think it would pay to import hods into 
this country, for this is the way they 
get around the need of them: A man 
standing on the sidewalk makes a round 
ball of a lump of mortar and throws it 
to another man on the scaffolding, who 
passes it on in the same way until it 
reaches its destination. 

You can see tailors sitting in their 
shops and holding the piece of goods on 
which they are working between the 
great toe and the next, and I have seen 
wood-carvers holding the pieces they were 
carving in the same way. 



in CJiina and Japan. 85 

Then, too, you ought to see the women 
with blackened teeth and shaved eye- 
brows. These are married women, and 
are expected thus to disfigure themselves 
lest they may prove too attractive to men 
to whom they are not married. I am told 
that the custom does not obtain so 
generally as in former years, but I see 
many examples of this sort of disfigure- 
ment whenever I visit the Japanese 
quarter of Yokohama or Homura. It is 
even asserted that old maids, envious 
of the distinction of the matrons, also 
blacken their teeth and shave their eye- 
brows. Many of the married women who 
do this are quite young. I cannot doubt 
that the desired result is thus achieved, 
although I should think that it might 
have another and unlooked-for effect, viz : 
in putting their own husbands out of 
conceit of them. 

As to the jin-ricsJia coolies, I found it 
well to acquaint myself with the regular 
tariff fixed for their ser^dces. If you hand 



86 Jottings of Travel 

one of them the exact amount to which 
he is entitled, he accepts it grate- 
fully. If you give him more, he 
presumes on a foreigner's ignorance 
and insists that he is underpaid. It is 
only when you have come to know your 
man that you can safely indulge your 
good nature by giving him, in addition 
to his fee, a pourboire. That the jm-ricsha 
coolies deserve better pay than they 
usually get for their work is beyond ques- 
tion. The Japanese, however, manage 
to get more for their money than we 
foreigners do, for I have often seen 
husband, wife and child crowded into 
one jin-ricsha. 

It seems to me that the hardest worked 
among the natives are the coolies who 
push and pull the carts that serve the 
same purpose as carts or drays do with 
us. As horses and mules are scarce here, 
and human labor cheap, this work is done 
by men. Five or six of them will toil 
along the highway, struggling with their 



in China and Japan, 87 

heavy load, and gasping, rather than sing- 
ing, a monotonous sort of ehant. No one 
of them sings more than two or three 
notes ; as soon as he stops another takes 
it up, and thus it goes on unceasingly. 

In the warm season these folks are not 
burdened w4th overmuch clothing. In 
this respect there is, I am told, even 
greater freedom in those sections to 
which the foreigner has not yet been 
admitted. In the open ports, Japanese 
police regulations insist on a certain 
measure of deference to European notions 
on this point. In Yokohama, if report 
speaks truly, there are bathing establish- 
ments where the sexes bathe together 
indiscriminately. 

As an illustration of native ignorance 
and innocence, I will repeat what an 
English gentleman, who has lived here 
during many years, told me the other 
day. In the course of business, he once 
called on a reputable and well-to-do 
Japanese tradesman. He was a frequent 



88 Jottings of Travel 

visitor, and had become very fond of the 
baby of the household, rarely omitting to 
bring some sweetmeat or trinket for the 
youngster. On this occasion, he pushed 
back the unbarred gate and, in walking 
towards the house, was obliged to pass 
Madam, who was comfortably bathing in 
a tub. He politely ignored her, and she 
seem^ed to take no notice of his presence. 
He stopped for a moment to fondle the 
little fellow, who was playing in the yard, 
and offered him a toy that he had 
brought for him. The child was shy, and 
drew back as if afraid. Quick as thought, 
the mother stepped from her bath, took 
the toy from his hands, gave it to the 
child, bowed politely, and uttering the 
word arigato (thanks) returned to her tub. 

-K- •?$• -Jf ^ -X- ^- -Jf 45- 

As there has been no outgoing steamer 
since I wrote you about the Shiba 
temples, I will add a brief account of the 
Asakusa Temple, which is also in Tokio, 
but quite remote from the former. 



i)i CJii)ia and Japan. 89 

Shiba is silent, solemn, dreary; 
Asakusa full of life. It was on a Sunday 
that B. and I visited it, but I am told 
that crowds as great as we saw can be 
found there every day in the year. It is 
approached through a long narrow 
avenue, lined on either side with vShops 
and booths, in which are displayed all 
sorts of wares, such as one would find in 
the Ginza, but with a noticeable prepon- 
derance of sweetmeats, toys, little books 
with bright colored covers, fans, orna- 
ments for the hair, and paper umbrellas. 
Then, too, there are voluble medicine 
men, selling lotions and potent draughts, 
on the merits of which they are expatia- 
ting to the gaping crowd about them. 
Besides these, there are old women with 
jars of the world-famed, pretty three- 
tailed goldfish of Japan, and others 
offering for sale birds of all sorts. In- 
deed, the approach to Asakusa Temple 
suggests a combination of a country fair 
and the pink lemonade and peanut 



90 Jottings of Travel 

environment of an American travelling 
circus show. 

The temple is full of people, mostly 
women and children, with a sprinkling of 
old men. There are priests and acolytes 
at the altar. Women kneel at a sort of 
grating, and before leaving drop a coin 
between the bars. All is noise and bus- 
tle. Flocks of tame pigeons have made 
their nests up among the rafters and fly 
hither and thither as if used to the 
crowds about them. The decorations, 
although more profuse than at Shiba, are, 
as a rule, of a cheaper and more popular 
sort. We are especially interested by the 
large grotesque paintings of saints and 
warriors, and by the huge paper lanterns 
suspended from the beams in the roof. 
Then, too, there are several large bronze 
vases of unmistakable antiquity and 
beautiful workmanship. 

It was well worth our while to visit 
Asakusa, for the sake of noting the 
contrast between it and Shiba. I shall. 



in China and Japan. 91 

however, spare you any further descrip- 
tion of Japanese temples, now that I 
have written about these two, for I am 
informed that when you have seen one 
you have seen' all. Still, judging from 
the pictures and the accounts I have 
received, those at Nikko surpass all others 
in beauty and in size. I fear, however, 
that I shall not find time to visit that 
section of Japan, although I have had 
most tempting invitations to do so. 



92 Jottings of Travel 



X. The Bluff at Yokohama. 

Grand Hotels 
Yokohama^ May 28, i88y. 
^ ^ '^ ^ The Grand Hotel is, of 
course, in the foreign quarter, which is 
largely given up to business concerns and 
the commodious establishments of the 
foreign consuls. I have been a frequent 
visitor at the American Consulate, and 
am indebted to Consul Greathouse and 
Mr. Sidmore, his assistant, for various 
kind attentions. I find the Consul eaofer 
to forward the interests of Americans in 
Japan, and can bear testimony to his 
efforts in that direction. If those among 
our manufacturers who wish to trade 
with the Japanese would go to the 
trouble of studying the market, so as 
to acquire a knowledge of just what 



in China and Japan, 95 

kinds of goods are wanted here, they 
would find it greatly to their advantage. 
Instead of doing this, they have often 
experimented by sending out articles for 
which they could find no buyers at home. 
Encountering the rivalry of the keen- 
witted and careful competitors who ha.ve 
the advantage of being on the spot, such 
experiments, as might well be expected, 
have generally resulted in financial loss 
and discouragement. 

I have passed many pleasant hours 
with various members of the German 
colony which forms quite an important 
section of the foreign population of 
Yokohama. They are all actively en- 
gaged in business, some as chiefs in 
charge of agencies, others in subordinate 
yet important positions. They are active^ 
bright men, and are rated as among 
the cleverest merchants hereabouts. My 
letter to Mr. D., at whose pleasant home 
I was most cordially welcomed, was the 
means of my meeting these people, who. 



94 Jottings of Travel 

far away from their Fatherland, have 
nevertheless managed to preserve much 
of their German Gemiithlichkeit. I con- 
sider myself fortunate in having made 
their acquaintance, and sometimes won- 
der whether, after leaving here, I shall 
ever again chance across any of these 
pleasant companions. 

A creek, or canal, emptying into the 
Bay at the right of the Grand Hotel, 
separates Yokohama proper from the Bluff, 
which is the residence quarter of most of 
the Americans and Europeans who dwell 
here. There are pretty cottages, or rather 
bungalows, vine-covered and almost 
hidden by the trees and bushes. While 
the greater number are of modest propor- 
tions, there are some of more pretentious 
appearance. Nearly all of them have an 
air of comfort and refinement, and, so far 
as I have been favored with an opportu- 
nity to inform myself on the subject, I 
have found that the interiors made good 
the impression suggested by the outside 



ill CJiiiia and Japan, 95 

view. Many of them are surrounded by 
carefully kept grounds in which Japanese 
gardeners have had their own sweet wall, 
as is readily seen from the abundance of 
dwarf maples of varied colorings, and the 
stunted and distorted pines and cedars. 
Then, too, there are the miniature bridges, 
spanning tiny rivulets, under overhang- 
ing willows, such as the devices on Japan- 
ese pottery have long since made known 
to us. To complete the picture, the little 
lady in the costume of the country, with 
umbrella in one hand and fan in the other, 
and with eyes looking northwest and 
northeast at the same time, ought to be 
on the bridge. 

The Stars and Stripes are flying from 
the flag-staff of the U. S. Naval Hospital, 
the first building to the right as you 
ascend the hillside. It is in charge of 
Dr. D. McMurtrie, U. S. N., whose cosy 
dw^elling is hard by and within the same 
compound. The Doctor has been sta- 
tioned here for some time, and both he 



96 Jottings of Travel 

and Mrs. M. are deservedly great favorites 
in Yokohama. 

Leaving the Hospital and continuing 
along the Bluff, you travel up hill and 
down dale, through lanes of cottages such 
as I have mentioned, and, after getting 
beyond the dwellings, you reach the race- 
course, where, a few days ago, I attended 
one of the meetings. The runners were of 
the native breed of ponies, the riders were 
Japanese bettos (grooms). The races are 
an event of some importance hereabouts. 
On the days of the meetings, the foreign 
business houses and banks close at noon, 
and it is well worth one's while to attend 
for the sake of seeing assembled nearly 
all there is of foreign society at Yoko- 
hama. 

On our way back to the hotel, we made 
somewhat of a detour, taking the drive 
along Mississippi Bay and through the 
fishing village (I cannot recall its name) 
that lies seaward beyond the Bluff. The 
scene, as we drove along the shore, was 



i)i China and Japan. gy 

one of rare beauty. The day was drawing 
to a close. The clouds varied in color 
from a rosy purple to a delicate violet and 
the brighter tints were reflected and soft- 
ened in the waters of the Bay, whose sur- 
face was as smooth as a mill-pond. It 
was one of those happy moments that 
make the young and the romantic wish 
that it might continue thus forever. 

Seated in the same carriage with me 
were a youth and a maiden who probably 
felt just that way, while I was thinking 
about dinner. I had been watching their 
romance for some days. A few even- 
ings later, I met them again at a dinner 
somewhere on the Bluff. There was a 
fine moon that night, for their special 
benefit I imagine, and when the party 
broke up they said that they would rather 
walk home than ride. Well, they had their 
walk and, I suppose, their talk; for since 
then I have had the pleasure of congratu- 
lating them on their betrothal. 

Directly across the Canal, on the low- 



98 Jottings of Travel 

land to the right of the Bluff, is the village 
of Homura, a sort of suburb of Yoko- 
hama. It is thickly settled, the streets 
are narrow, the houses closely huddled 
together, and, while there are shops and 
artificers of various kinds, the chief pro- 
duct, at first blush, appears to consist of 
Japanese babies. There are so many of 
them that it is sometimes difficult to get 
out of their way. B. amuses himself by 
giving them small copper coins and is 
soon the centre of an admiring crowd. 
There are babies of all sizes, the large 
ones carrying the smaller, toddlers of six 
or seven years with their infant brothers 
or sisters strapped to their backs — a 
settlement of live Japanese dolls, as it 
were. 

I must not forget to mention Fujita, or 
the House of the Hundred Steps. The 
most direct way of getting there is to 
use the steep stone stairs, of just one 
hundred steps, that lead from the end of 
one of the streets of Homura up to the 



/;/ China and Japan. 99 

top of the Bluff. There is an easier but 
longer approach from the other side. 

It is visited for the sake of the fine sun- 
sets, for the extended view of Yokohama 
and the Bay, and, when the skies are 
clear, of distant Fujiama. The place 
belongs to the Tanabe family, and is in 
charge of the two clever Misses Tanabe 
who, with their brother, Tanabe Gengoro, 
are interested in a successful silk shop in 
Homura. The Hundred Steps House is 
much affected by most foreigners who 
visit Yokohama. If you choose, you can 
have a cup of tea, a glass of wine, or other 
simple refreshment. You are politely 
served by the female attendants, one 
of whom, for some inscrutable reason, 
has been nicknamed " Jimmy." As the 
Tanabes and Jimmy are bright, clever 
women, with pleasant manners, who are 
able to converse in English, French, Ger- 
man or Russian, it is easy to understand 
how their establishment has come to be 
a favorite lounging place. After a visitor 



100 Jottings of Travel 

lias enjoyed the views again and again, 
he will still find it worth his while to 
climb the hundred steps for the sake of 
lounging away an hour or two at Fujita. 
A seat overlooking the hillside ; a com- 
panion ready for a chat when you are in 
the mood, but not conversational enough 
to force you to talk against your will ; 
and that other good comrade, a cigar: 
with these elements you will find it pleas- 
ant enough to end up the day there, doing 
a little quiet lotus-eating on your own 
account, and interrupted only by Jimmy's 
'' Donzhu want some more tea ? " or the 
antics of mischievous Cheesi (a diminu- 
tive relative of the Tanabes), whose great 
delight it is to tease the visitors. 



in China and Japan. loi 



XL Treaty Revision, Etc. 

In certain circles the closely related 
topics of extra-territoriality and treaty- 
revision are frequently canvassed. Both 
Japanese and foreigners find much to 
object to under existing conditions; but, 
while both sides ask for added privileges, 
they do not find it so easy to concede 
what is wanted of them. Perhaps this is 
hardly just to the position of the Japan- 
ese, for they are only asking back what, 
because of their weakness, they surren- 
dered to the great powers. At present legal 
causes in which foreigners are interested 
are conducted before the consular courts, 
and, as a consequence, there are as many 
different jurisdictions as there are nation- 
alities represented here. The Japanese 
object to this, feeling that such a position 



102 Jottings of Travel 

of affairs is inconsistent with the dignity 
of a sovereign and independent nation. 
The government, knowing that the trea- 
ties stand in the way of the change so 
greatly desired by it, has within the last 
few years invited the assistance of foreign 
jurisconsults in the preparation of new 
civil, commercial and criminal codes, in 
the hope that it will be practicable to 
procure the consent of the treaty powers 
to the proposed change. As an induce- 
ment to the foreign governments to permit 
their citizens to have their causes tried 
before Japanese courts and by the laws 
of the land, the government is willing to 
have those powers appoint judges who 
are to sit with the native judges in the 
trial of causes affecting the rights of 
foreigners. Another important feature is 
that, with the acceptance of this condi- 
tion, all parts of the empire will be opened 
to foreigners, who, at present, are re- 
stricted to trading or owning property in 
the few free ports. 



i)i China and Japan. 103 

On the part of the government, the 
revision or abrogation of the treaties is 
desired for another important reason ; for 
it would permit of a change in the import 
duties. The present tariff is merely a 
nominal one, which, while it yields a 
certain amount of revenue, was framed 
solely in the interest of the foreign high 
contracting powers. 

Thus far all attempts at revision have 
proved abortive. The foreigners, as a 
rule, are satisfied with the present con- 
dition of affairs, or, at best, want no 
change unless it be in the direction of 
added privileges for themselves. Their 
interests are purely commercial; not 
national. That patriotic Japanese must 
find much to chafe at in this state 
of affairs follows as a matter of course. 
In the meanwhile, with unmistakable 
patience and apparent good nature, they 
bide their time. 



I04 Jottings of Travel 



XII. A Japanese Dinner. 

Yokohama, May 2g, iSSy. 

It lias been raining incessantly since 
yesterday noon, and just now it is pour- 
ing at a rate tliat must be very discourag- 
ing to pleasure seekers and livery-stable 
keepers. 

In spite of the rain, I went to Tokio 
last evening, to attend a dinner given by 
Mr. Masujima. At the banquet to the 
faculty of the Law School, and at which 
I was his guest, the service was in the 
European style. On this occasion, it 
was his desire that the foreigners in the 
party should see how the Japanese live 
among themselves. He had invited about 
twenty-four gentlemen, one-third of whom 
were Americans or Europeans, and the 
remaining two-thirds Japanese. The 



ill China and Japan. 105 

latter were, all of them, attired in the 
costume of the country. 

After leaving the Shinbashi Station at 
Tokio I rode for about half an hour in a 
jin-ricsha. For the greater part of the 
way our route lay through a quarter of 
the city that was quite new to me and 
finer than any portion of Tokio I had yet 
seen. I was told afterward that it is the 
most aristocratic section of the city. 
When I reached the restaurant, a sort of 
private club-house, where we were to be 
entertained, I found that it was on a hill 
overlooking a beautiful little valley and 
surrounded with fine trees and shrubbery. 
The place and its surroundings were so 
picturesque that I could only wish for a 
chance to see it all in fine weather. On 
our way thither I got the impression that 
we were going into a section devoted to 
semi-detached suburban villas, • such as 
we have on the outskirts of our cities. 
Looking through the trees, I could, how- 
ever, distinguish closely-built streets in 



io6 Jottings of Travel 

various directions, and was told that we 
were, so to say, in the heart of Tokio. 

On entering, we removed our shoes, as 
is the custom of the country ; the proper 
sequel to this would have been to follow 
the example of our Japanese friends and 
put on the straw sandals that were pro- 
vided for us. Unfortunately, however, 
our socks were not made with thumbs, 
and, as a result, we were obliged to re- 
main in our stocking feet for the rest of 
the evening. One of our party had the 
forethought to provide himself with felt 
slippers. The floor was, as usual, covered 
with slabs of straw matting, and the 
rooms, although larger, were in nearly all 
respects much like that in the restaurant 
I visited in company with Mr. Shiraishi 
some days ago. 

There were no chairs, and I found sitting 
on my haunches rather fatiguing. I 
therefore changed my position from time 
to time, but did not attempt to sit on my 
feet, as the lithe and slender Japanese 



/;/ China and Japan. 107 

are wont to do. To one with my fig-ure, 
and without previous practice, that would 
have been an impossibility. Indeed, my 
back still aches from the efforts I made 
to balance myself while enjoying the 
dinner. 

We were first invited to the upper floor 
of the building, where we took part in a 
ceremonious tea drinking. One of the 
Japanese gentlemen, assisted by others, 
went through certain forms, according to 
an old-time ritual prescribed for such 
occasions. When every guest had par- 
taken of a cup of the delicious tea that 
had been thus prepared, we were invited 
to descend to the ground floor, where the 
dinner was to be served. 

The guests were ranged along the sides 
of the large room, and the viands were 
brought to each one on a lacquered tray, 
by pretty Japanese girls. Each course 
was served in a lacquered cup with cover ; 
when you had tasted of it, you replaced 
the cover and left the cup standing before 



io8 Jottings of Travel 

you. By the time thxe dinner was over 
there were some dozen or more of the 
cups in front of each guest. We drank 
sake, which was served warm and in tiny 
porcelain cups. They gave us soup, rice, 
boiled tay (the favorite fish of Japan, and 
excellent), salmon trout, sea-weed, etc., 
etc. ; some of them savory and palatable ; 
others, to one unaccustomed to them, 
impossible. For the soups, we were pro- 
vided with porcelain spoons ; knives and 
forks were not to be seen, for this was a 
chopstick affair. 

For the entertainment of the guests, 
there was a performance of sleight-of-hand 
tricks, some of which were marvellously 
well done, the cleverest performer in the 
troupe being an urchin apparently not 
over twelve years old. There were, also, 
Japanese songs, singing and dancing by 
Japanese girls, besides songs and humor- 
ous speeches by some of the foreign 
guests. How long the festivities were 
kept up I am unable to say, as those of 



/;/ Chi/ia and Japan. 109 

lis who wanted to take the last train for 
Yokohama were obliged to leave at about 
ten o'clock. Those whom we left there 
seemed to think that very early, hardly 
''the shank of the evening" as John 
Phenix has it. 

It was a most interesting entertain- 
ment, affording me a glimpse of Japan- 
ese ways that I might not have found it 
easy to obtain otherwise. For this and 
other courtesies I have abundant reason 
to be grateful for the constant kindness 
of Mr. Masujima. 



no Jottifigs of Travel 



XIII. Kobe-Nagasaki. 

On board the S. S. Satsiniia-Maru, 

Nagasaki, June ^, iSSy. 

We left Yokohama on the 31st of 
May, at noon, in the S. S. Satsuma- 
Maru, Captain Conner commanding. The 
steamer is, I understand, the smallest in 
the fleet, and is owned by the Jananese 
company known as the Nippon Yiisen 
Kaisha. This organization controls a 
fleet of one hundred or more steam 
vessels. A few of the older ones formerly 
belonged to the Pacific Mail S, S. Com- 
pany ; the larger portion were built on 
the Clyde. 

At seven P.M. of Wednesday, June ist, 
we reached Kobe, where we remained un- 
til six P.M. of the following day. Since 
leaving Kobe we have made two stops ; 



in CJiina and Japan. 1 1 1 

at Shimonosaki, where we remained 
about an honr or more, and at Nagasski, 
where we dropped anchor at six o'clock 
A.M. (about an hour ago). We shall 
leave here this evening or sometime 
to-morrow, sailing across the China Sea, 
direct for Shanghai, which point we hope 
to reach late on Monday or early on 
Tuesday next. 

Among our passengers was an intelli- 
gent and agreeable Scotchman who came 
to Yokohama some eighteen years ago, 
at the call of the Japanese government, 
and who was in its employ some eight 
years, superintending the erection of 
light-houses. He knows the coast thor- 
oughly, and had much that was inter- 
esting to tell us about various points 
we passed, as well as about Japan and 
the Japanese. I was very sorry to part 
company with him when we reached here, 
for this is his journey's end. 

Writing from Yokohama the other day, 
I expressed my regret at not having 



112 Jottings of Travel 

touclied a fiddle since I left the States, 
and added that I would manage to beg, 
borrow or steal one as soon as I reached 
Shanghai. It occurred to me, after I had 
posted my letter, that it would be just as 
proper to buy one, but that, although the 
more creditable method, was really an 
afterthought. 

It was so late in the day when we 
reached Kobe that I concluded I would 
dine on the steamer before going ashore. 
That same evening I called on Mr. B., 
whom a friend in Yokohama had apprised 
of my intended visit. I had been there 
but a little while when I found that Mrs. 
B. is an accomplished pianist and, as our 
steamer was not to leave until the next 
evening, I gladly accepted her invitation 
for an hour or two of sonata practising on 
the following afternoon. One of the two 
violins in the settlement was borrowed 
for the occasion and, for the first time 
since I left home, I had the pleasure of 
hugging a violin. In my Avildest dreams 



/;/ CJiina and Japan. 1 1 3 

it had never occurred to me that I would 
one day be playing a Beethoven sonata in 
Japan. 

Kobe is, to my notion, a far prettier 
town than Yokohama. This is the name 
of the foreign settlement adjoining Hiogo ; 
the latter designation is found on most of 
the maps, while Kobe is marked on but 
few of them. The foreign settlement at 
Kobe is neither so old nor so extensive as 
that at Yokohama. On the other hand, 
the buildings, as a rule, are finer, and the 
streets wider and cleaner. The beautiful 
green hills back of the town form a fine 
background to the picttire. Some of the 
foreign residents have made their homes 
in bungaloY\^s two or three hundred feet 
above the foot of the hills, and from one 
of these (the residence of Captain D. J. 
Carroll), where I took luncheon, the view 
of the town, the shipping in the harbor, 
and the sea and islands for miles beyond, 
was very fine. Captain Carroll was, I am 
inform.ed, the first white man to settle 



114 Jottings of Travel 

here, and has been one of the prominent 
European residents of Japan since a date 
immediately following the arrival of Com- 
modore Perry. 

The forenoon of the day I spent at 
Kobe was passed in visiting curio shops 
and the spacious and comfortable build- 
ing of the Kobe Club. After leaving 
Kobe we entered the famous Inland Sea, 
or rather strait, between the islands Nip- 
pon and Kiusiu. I wish I could describe 
the matchless beauty of the Inland Sea. 
For hours our course lay among and 
between islands seemingly without num- 
ber, and of all sizes and shapes. They 
are all verdure clad. Some are not more 
than a few feet in diameter, others are 
large enough to furnish homes for set- 
tlements of the fishermen whose myriad 
boats, meeting the eye at every turn, 
add greatly to the charm of the scene. 



/// China and Japan. 115 

Nagasaki, June <5, iSSy. 

I propose to send you a letter on Jap- 
anese writing paper; that is, if I can 
manage to keep my pen from going 
through it. This is of the quality gen- 
erally used by the natives, except that, 
because of the pictures, it is especially 
elegant. The Japanese write with a hair 
pencil steeped in India ink, and thus the 
flimsy texture of the paper does not bother 
them as it now does me. 

We arrived here yesterday at daylight, 
and the intention was to leave at five 
o'clock in the afternoon. It stormed so 
severely all day that the Captain thought 
it would be wiser not to venture outside, 
and so our departure was delayed until 
this afternoon at four o'clock. If all goes 
well, we shall reach Shanghai in a little 
less than two days. 

Nagasaki is the great coaling station of 
Japan, the most important mines in the 
Empire being near by. The Japanese 
town is quite extensive; the foreign 



Ii6 Jottings of Travel- 

settlement is small, although the amount 
of^ business transacted here is said to be 
large. 

Great quantities of rice are shipped 
from here, and the fine harbor affords 
ample room for a large amount of ship- 
ping. French, German, English and Japan- 
ese merchant steamers are now lying at 
anchor here, and one large Russian frigate 
is on the dry dock, which is said to be the 
largest this side of Suez. 

It would amuse you to see how they 
load vessels with coal. The barges or 
lighters are rowed up alongside of the 
vessel that is to receive the coal. Men 
are down in the hold busily filling the 
baskets, which are handed along from one 
helper to the other, until they reach the 
vessel. These helpers form a line, and 
do not stand more than two feet apart. 
Most of this work is done by girls, and 
when, as with the collier lying near by, 
you can see about six or seven hundred 
of them at it at one and the same 



in CJiina and Japan. 117 

time, it is a busy scene. Altliougli each 
worker remains in the one place until 
the task is completed, the movement 
of arms and baskets makes it look as if 
the great crowd was trying to climb up 
the ship's side. 

Yesterday being very stormy, we had 
what is known as regular Nagasaki 
weather. Indeed, the sailors jokingly 
tell us that it rains here about eight days 
out of the seven. We have had '' leaky " 
weather ever since our arrival. Notwith- 
standing the rain, I went ashore yesterday 
in a sampan, and visited the shops of some 
of the workers in tortoise shell, a branch of 
industry for which Nagasaki has quite a 
reputation. After an hour thus spent, I 
was glad to return to the steamer and to 
remain there for the rest of the day. 

This morning the weather promised to 
mend, and I went ashore again, looked in 
at some porcelain and curio shops, and 
visited two bazars, making a few pur- 
chases in several of them. 



1 1 8 Jottings of Travel 

The harbor of Nagasaki is almost land- 
locked, the town lying at the foot and 
along the sides of the green hills that 
encircle it like an amphitheatre. It 
looks prettier and more inviting from 
the ship than it proves on shore. It has 
all the usual features of a busy maritime 
town. Jack-tars of various nationalities 
abound, and in the foreign quarter there 
is quite a number of queer looking 
taverns that seem to have been intended 
for the special entertainment of sailors. 

There are five Russian men-of-war 
lying in the harbor. This morning we 
heard the band on the Admiral's ship 
playing the Russian national anthem, and 
it was well played, too. 

As most of the people I meet imagine 
that I am travelling for pleasure, I am 
often told that I ought to have visited 
China before going to Japan, and thus 
have left the best for the last. From 
their point of view they are probably in 
the right, and I do not feel called upon to 



in China and Japan. 119 

tell them just why I am here. My stay 
in this country began on the 15th of May 
and to-day I leave it. I have spent three 
delightful weeks in Japan, during which 
I have seen much that is worth remem- 
bering, although both tourists and old 
residents assure me that to have missed 
Nikko and Kioto is not to have seen 
Japan at all. 

Perhaps I shall find time on my return 
to visit those points. If not, I shall be 
duly grateful for all that I have seen. 
For the present, however, I must bid fare- 
well to Dai Nippon. 



I20 Jottings of Travel 



XIV. Shanghai. 

As tor House, 
Shanghai, June g, i88y. 
We left Nagasaki at about 5 P.M. on 
Sunday, the 5tli inst., in a drizzling rain. 
When we awoke on Monday the sky was 
clear and bright, and our staunch little 
steamer was carrying us due West on the 
blue waters of the Yellow Sea. We 
were out of sight of land during the 
whole of that day. On Tuesday morn- 
ing, the 7th, we were no longer in blue 
water, but were sailing through what in 
color resembled pea soup. The discolora- 
tion of the sea is caused by the great 
quantity of silt carried to the ocean by 
the Yang-tse-Kiang River and is notice- 
able at a distance of about sixty miles from 
the Coast. The great stream is very wide at 



/';/ Chi) I a and Japan. 121 

its moutli and the banks are so low that one 
is hardly apt to notice having entered it. 
At about noon we dropped anchor at 
Wusung, a shipping town at the mouth of 
the Whangpoa River, a tributary of the 
Yang-tse-Kiang. We lay there an Hour 
or two, waiting for high tide, and then 
steamed up the Whangpoa to Shanghai, 
which is about sixteen miles from 
Wusung. 

We arrived here at about four o'clock on 
the afternoon of the 7th, and proceeded 
at once to the Astor House, where we 
have comfortable quarters. This is the 
principal American hotel in Shanghai ; 
Mr. Janssen, the landlord, is from New- 
burgh, N. Y. Near by is the American 
Consulate ; beyond that, the offices and 
wharves of the Japanese S. S. Company. 
Nearly opposite my room is the fine 
building of the German Consulate. 

I have thus far not seen enough of 
Shanghai to say much about it. I have 
been kept too busy to find much time for 



122 Jottings of Travel 

sight-seeing. What I have seen, how- 
ever, has impressed me very favorably. 
Shanghai is the most important shipping 
point in China. While the Japanese 
Company (the Nippon Yiisen Kaishd) 
keeps up a weekly service between this 
point and Yokohama, calling by the way 
at Nagasaki and Kobe, there are con- 
stant arrivals of colliers and junks from 
Nagasaki and other ports in Japan. 
Steamers of the North German Lloyd, of 
the Messageries Maritimes, and of the P. 
and O. Company, carry mails and passen- 
gers to Europe, via Hong Kong or Singa- 
pore. Besides these, there are ocean 
tramps sailing to European and Ameri- 
can ports, with cargoes of tea or silk. 
The China Merchant Steam Navigation 
Company, the great firm of Jardine, Mat- 
theson & Co., and also that of Butterfield 
& Swire, control quite a fleet of steamers 
that ply between this city, the commer- 
cial capital of the empire, and the coast 
and river towns. Add to these a goodly 



in China and Japan. 123 

number of sailing vessels of foreign 
build, countless junks of all sizes, some 
Chinese men-of-war, an English frigate or 
two, a German ditto, a couple of opium 
hulks, and a host of sampans rushing 
hither and thither, and you can readily 
understand that there is much to be seen 
at the Shanghai water-side. 

As I have not been ou.tside of the 
foreign settlement, and have in fact been 
in only two or three of its streets, the 
sights I have seen can hardly be called 
Chinese. There are many large buildings 
in the way of banks, warehouses^ consular 
offices, hotels and private residences. 
Although the foreign population is said 
to be only 5,000, the buildings used by it 
cover so large a space, the streets are so 
wide and so full of life, and the shipping, 
as I have already mentioned, so numerous, 
that Shanghai easily gives one the im- 
pression of a large city. In my case, this 
may, in a measure, be owing to my hav- 
ing just come from Japan, where nearly 



124 Jottings of Travel 

all the houses are low and the streets, as 
a rule, narrow. 

As a gathering place for all sorts of 
nationalities, Shanghai is even more im- 
portant than Yokohama. Besides Euro- 
peans and Americans, you meet Sikhs, 
Singhalese, Parsees, Japanese, etc. The 
Sikhs are the police of the English settle- 
ment. They are tall, very dark, and have 
piercing black eyes. Up to yesterday, 
they wore a dark-blue uniform; to-day 
they are in summer costume of white 
jean, and with their swarthy faces, black 
beards and crimson turbans, they present 
quite a picturesque appearance. They 
do not understand the Chinese language, 
nor do the .natives understand theirs. I 
am told, however, that this trifling cir- 
cumstance does not interfere with the 
successful performance of their duty as 
preservers of the peace. 

The jin-ricsha is to be found here as 
well as in Japan, where it was invented. 
Then, too, there is the Chinese barrow. 



in China and Japan. 125 

with a wheel through the middle — a sort 
of centre-board wheel-barrow — which is 
used only by the Chinese. You will see 
one, two, or three passengers sitting on 
either side, their feet dangling in the air. 
On a photograph that I have just bought, 
there is a Chinaman being wheeled home 
from market. He is on one side of the 
vehicle, and a pig is strapped to the other. 
The barrow is, I understand, even cheaper 
as a means of conveyance than the jin- 
ricsha, for the use of which the charge is 
ten cents per hour. 

The foreign settlement is divided into 
the American, the British and the French 
concessions, and of these the British is 
by far the largest and most important. 
Coming up the stream, the American 
concession is first rea.ched. The principal 
business street in this section is named 
Broadway, and is largely given up to 
Chinese shop-keepers. There are, I am 
informed, about 150,000 natives who, for 
business and other reasons, have found it 



126 Jottings of Travel 

worth tlieir wliile to live in tlie Settlement 
and outside of the walls of the old town. 
They prefer being under the jurisdiction 
of the Municipal Council to subjecting 
themselves to the capricious and at times 
exacting " squeezes " of the native officials 
of Shanghai proper. Some of them have 
fine shops in the best quarters and are 
regarded as honorable merchants ; that 
they are very shrev/d at driving a bar- 
gain, I am, from my own experience, 
quite willing to believe. 

The American quarter is known as 
Hongkew. In this are situated the Astor 
House, the American Consulate, the Ger- 
man Consulate, the offices and wharves 
of the Japanese Steamer Company, the 
docks and ship-yards of Farnham & Co., 
and factories of various kinds. 

Crossing the Soochow Creek by a little 
bridge, you enter the British settlement. 
To the left is the pretty Public Garden, 
and at this point the Bund begins. It 
extends into the French quarter, where it 



ill Chill a and Japan. 127 

is known as Quai dc Fj-aiicc. The line of 
demarcation between John Bull's domain 
and that of Jean Crapaud is a lazy, black 
looking and ill-smelling stream known as 
Yang King Pang Creek. To-day we 
shall not cross it, but will remain in the 
English settlement. The Bund is a fine, 
wide highway, wath trees on either side. 
Just beyond the end of the Garden 
bridge, and to the right of the Public 
Garden, are the buildings and the fine 
grounds of the British Consulate. Among 
other noteworthy edifices are the Masonic 
Hall, the ofiices of Jardine, Mattheson & 
Co., the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, 
and the large building of Russell & Co., 
the leading American house in this 
quarter of the globe. The firm of 
Sassoon, Sons & Co. have commodious 
and pleasant quarters that stand back 
some distance from the street and are 
approached through a long, shaded 
avenue, that suggests the entrance to a 
private residence rather than to a business 



128 Jottings of Travel 

house. Large undertakings, requiring 
considerable sums of money to support 
them and a long time for their develop- 
ment, are entered into by the more 
important firms hereabouts, but every- 
thing seems to be done in a leisurely way. 
No one is ever in a hurry, unless it be on 
steamer day, when principals and clerks 
will often work all night in order to bring 
their correspondence up to the day, and 
almost the very hour, of sailing. If there 
be hard work, that is left to the coolies. 
A comprador or a shroff is never in a hurry^ 
but, in the words of the song, he ''gets 
there, all the same." 

Enter a bank and ask for a draft on 
Yokohama, Tashkend or any point you 
may think of, for these people have trade 
and money connections all over the world. 
After you have told the polite clerk the 
amount you wish to remit, he calls the 
shroff, who is at once silver expert and 
paymaster, and asks him to make the 
calculation, which is speedily done on the 



in China and Japan. 129 

saroban, or abacus, which throughout 
China and Japan is used for this purpose. 
AVhen the clerk gets his answer, he may- 
look up at the clock and then ask you to 
return at, say, 2 P. M. for your draft. 
You wonder why the transaction cannot 
be completed at once, and when you 
meekly express your thoughts on the sub- 
ject, you are gently, but firmly, told that 
it is so near tiffin time that it would be 
impossible to accommodate you until the 
hour named. It seems so much a matter 
of course that you have not a word to say. 
You have simply made acquaintance with 
another custom of the country, and are 
sensible enough to be glad of that fact. 

Since he mentions it, you remember 
that you have promised to take tiffin with 
some friends at the Shanghai Club, and, 
availing yourself of the services of the 
ever-ready Jin-ricsha, you go to the club- 
house. In the wine room you will find a 
large representation of the business world 
of Shanghai, who meet there daily at 



130 Jottings of Travel 

high noon, as at a sort of exchange. For 
comfort and completeness, the quarters of 
the Shanghai Club would do credit to any 
club in any city. In its large rooms the 
swinging punkah causes you to forget the 
torrid heat of the streets, and its excellent 
library and well-furnished newspaper 
room have helped me to while away many 
an otherwise tedious hour. 

But I quite forget that you went to the 
club for tiffin. The meal was served in 
the large dining-room upstairs and, with 
the charming company assembled to 
discuss it, you could not but enjoy the 
meeting. As it happened, you did not 
get back to the bank until long after two 
o'clock; and when you did reach it you 
learned about another custom of the 
bankers hereabouts. They will wait on 
you after three o'clock as cheerfully as 
before that hour, and rarely get away 
until four. I suppose this is their way 
of averaging Uip the tiffin account. 



Ill China and Japan. 131 



XV. Street Scenes, etc. 

The streets in the English settlement 
are named after Chinese provinces and 
cities, the word " road " being substi- 
tuted for '' street." The finest shops are 
on the Nanking Road and are situated in 
the first three or four blocks after leaving 
the Bund. The majority of these estab- 
lishments, and some of them are quite 
extensive, belong to foreigners, although 
there are a few that are conducted by 
Chinese. The best of these is devoted 
to the sale of Canton goods of various 
kinds, such as gold and silver ware, 
carvings in ivory and sandal wood, em- 
broideries, porcelains, etc. 

Where the foreign portion of the Nan- 
king Road (or Maloo, as the natives call 
it) ends, the Chinese shops begin. The 



132 Jottings of Travel 

street extends for quite a distance and 
leads out into the road to the Bubbling 
Spring, a suburb in which many of the 
foreign residents of Shanghai have built 
themselves delightful villas. 

In the neighborhood of the Bubbling 
Spring we visited a Chinese tea house and 
garden one afternoon. We were the 
guests of some Chinese gentlemen and 
were the only foreigners in the place, 
which was thronged with men and women, 
who were smoking, chatting, drinking tea 
or eating sweetmeats. The dress of the 
women was in some instances quite rich, 
their hair arranged quite elaborately, and 
they seemed to delight in fanciful hairpins 
or other ornaments. Many of them were 
attended by their amahs or servants. Of 
course we could not understand a word of 
what they said, but their behavior was 
quiet and modest. On asking one of the 
Chinese gentlemen in our party, as to 
the status of the people we saw about us, 
we were told that none of the females 



i)i China and Japan. 133 

^vere respectable ; in fact, that they were 
all of them women of pleasure. * He went 
on to say that, according to the custom of 
the country, respectable women are kept 
out of the sight of men ; that a wife 
would not expect to see any man other 
than her father, her husband or her 
brother, and that when she, on rare occa- 
sions, leaves her home to pay a visit, it is 
always in a sedan chair or carriage with 
closed curtains. 

Many of these women have the small 
feet that one reads of in all accounts of 
Chinese customs, but until you have seen 
them hobbling about with shoes of the 
size to fit a large doll, you fail to realize 
how diminutive they are. The custom 
obtains in the northern and central prov- 
inces. In Canton it is not followed. I 
asked a Chinese acquaintance of mine 
about it, and of course said that I thought 
it unnatural and absurd. He replied, '' Per- 
haps it is so, but please remember that the 
ladies in Europe and America have an 



134 Jottings of Travel 

equally unnatural fashion of compressing 
their waists." 

While walking in the pretty public gar- 
den a few days ago, I was joined by a 
young man who has been living here for 
some years, and who kindly gave me 
more or less information, with, as it turned 
out, some misinformation, in answer to 
the various questions with which I plied 
him. 

I had been struck with the Jewish cast 
of features and general appearance of the 
Parsees whom I had seen from day to 
day in the pleasure ground at Shanghai, 
where, after the heat of the day, you may 
meet many of the ladies and gentlemen 
of the Settlement, and, in the care of their 
Chinese or Japanese amaJis, a multitude 
of babies. 

The grounds are tastefully laid out, 
with fine beds of pinks, roses and other 
flowers that thrive nicely in this warm 
latitude. Especially noticeable were the 
magnolia trees, bearing flowers some ten 



/// China and Japan. 135 

or twelve inehes in diameter . In the con- 
servatory near by there is a fine collec- 
tion of ferns and some choice orchids. 

From five o'clock in the afternoon until 
seven, a military band, the leader of 
which is an Italian and the players from 
Manilla, discourses music which is good 
enough as far as choice of pieces goes, but 
is quite middling as regards the quality 
of the performance. 

But to return to the Parsees, in whom I 
had become much interested, although I 
had up to that time not made the 
acquaintance of any of them. I had 
asked whether they have a place of wor- 
ship here, for I wanted to visit one of 
their temples, but was told there is none 
in Shanghai. I had also been told that 
they religiously abstain from the use of 
tobacco, considering it a profanation of 
fire. After that I watched them care- 
fully, but never saw one of them with 
either a cigar or a cigarette. 

They -are, as a rule, fine looking men, 



136 Jottings of Travel 

with keen black eyes, aquiline noses, 
clear cut features, and a light olive com- 
plexion. Their faces are expressive of 
intelligence and self-command. All that 
I have seen during my walks wore the 
European costume, except as to the head 
covering, which is a peculiar sort of tur- 
ban and in some cases a brimless cylinder 
.sloping backward. 

In answer to my question, my com- 
panion informed me that the Parsees are 
highly respected as intelligent men and 
honorable merchants. 

'' What business are they usually 
engaged in ? " 

" Some few are brokers, but the most of 
them deal in opium." 

" Are they generally successful ? " 

" Certainly they are ; the Jews are all 
rich." 

''That may or may not be the case," 
was my reply ; " but we are talking about 
Parsees, not Jews." 

'' Oh ! you surprise me," he answered. 



/// China and Japan. 137 

" I thought every one knew that the Jews 
and the Parsees are one and the same." 

After that, I concluded not to pursue 
the subject any further. 

The Public Garden, with its pretty 
flowers ; the laughing and romping chil- 
dren, their elders sitting on the comfortable 
benches or walking along the winding 
paths; the music of the band; the fine 
view of the Whangpoa River, alive with 
shipping of all kinds, from the noble P. 
and O. steamer down to the sampan that, 
navigated by a half-naked boatman, glides 
noiselessly by and, with the eyes at its prow, 
really seems to know just where it is go- 
ing; — all these elements combined make 
up something more than a picture, for they 
appeal to more senses than one and leave 
an impression that it will be both easy 
and pleasant to recall in future days and 
in less genial climes. When, as some- 
times happens, the setting sun floods the 
western sky with a blaze of gold, or 
tinges the soft haze that hovers over 



138 Jottings of Travel 

land and water with delicate opaline 
hues, the scene acquires a new charm. 
You linger until the short twilight has 
dropped into black night, and forget all 
the kindly advice that has been given you 
anent malaria and Shanghai fever. 

And here let me say a word about the 
climate of Shanghai. My experience is, of 
course, but limited, but the opinion I have 
formed is borne out by that of persons 
who have lived here some twenty or 
thirty years. With clean and temperate 
living, and with due regard to the precau- 
tions that we are bound to use even at 
home during the heated term, living at 
Shanghai is as healthy as in Boston, New 
York or Philadelphia. One of the gentle- 
men whom I asked about this, thus 
expressed himself : 

** I will tell you the whole story in a few 
words. Young men come out here, and, 
being away from their families, with 
much idle time on their hands and little 
restraint in the shape of public opinion, 



/;/ China and Japan. 139 

fall into a freer mode of life than they 
have ever known. They eat too mnch, 
they drink too much, and perhaps commit 
other excesses. Finally, when they have 
undermined their health by these ruinous 
courses, they write home that the climate 
did it all." 

The Public Garden is supported by a 
tax to ^yhich the Chinese contribute as 
well as the foreigners, but no Chinaman 
is permitted to set foot within its precincts, 
excepting of course the clever native gar- 
dener and his assistants. It seems just 
a little singular that the Englishman, the 
Am_erican, the Frenchman, the Hindoo 
and the Japanese can thus combine to 
keep John Chinaman off of this piece of 
ground which he has presented to them 
for public purposes and towards the main- 
tenance of which he contributes a certain 
share. One wonders whether there ought 
not to be a sort of Civil Rights Bill for 
the protection of the native against the 
foreigner. When you speak of this to the 



140 Jottings of Travel 

Shanghaians, you are told that if you 
were to admit the Chinese there would be 
no room for anyone else. 

Two thoughts force themselves on the 
observer : First, that this ignoring of the 
native, so consistent with the policy of the 
foreigner in China, goes far to explain the 
want of sympathy between the two sec- 
tions of the population and furnishes one 
reason for the slov/ growth of Western 
ideas and culture in this empire. Second, 
that the Chinese are a peaceful, docile, 
order-loving people is evident from the 
manner in which they submit to this 
order of things. 



You have hardly entered your room at 
the hotel before you are called upon by 
the tailor, the shoemaker, the barber, and 
traders of various kinds, who offer their 
services in choice '' pigeon " English. If 
it be known that you care for old embroid- 
eries or porcelain, you will be pestered by 
pedlers without number, and with some of 



in China and Japan. 141 

these you may find it worth your while to 
deal. The price at which you eventually 
buy is far below that asked you in the 
first place ; sometimes only a quarter or a 
third of the '' asking price." Some of the 
embroidered pieces taken from old-time 
costumes show exquisitely fine workman- 
ship and a beautiful arrangement of 
colors and tints. 

In the native part of the Settlement 
one is struck by the large number of 
establishments for the manufacture of 
coffins. There are also several shops 
devoted to wood carving, and in some of 
these excellent work can be found in the 
way of figures or groups, illustrating 
national manners and customs. Driving 
out by the Canton Road or the Nanking 
Road of a hot Sunday afternoon, we found 
the native shops all open, and some of them 
seemed to be doing a thriving business. 
As we passed the butchers', the bakers' and 
the confectioners' shops, we saw the fat 



142 Jottings of Travel 

proprietors and their assistants naked to 
the waist and hard at work. 

Although the jin-7'icsha and the Chinese 
barrow are much used here, there seems 
to be a large supply of horses. The 
Chinese seem much given to driving out 
of an afternoon, and you can meet hun- 
dreds of traps and rigs of all kinds on the 
road to or from the Bubbling Spring 
tea gardens. When high dignitaries go 
about they use the sedan chair, which 
is carried by four coolies. Should it 
be a taotai, for instance, who takes an 
airing, his chair will be preceded and fol- 
lowed by a crowd of retainers, his exalted 
rank requiring this. 



ill China and Japan. 143 



XVI. A Chinese Theatre, Etc. 

Astor House, 
Shanghai, Jnnc 20, i88j. 

We are in for the rainy season, and 
have had rain nearly every day since our 
aiTival. There is so much humidity in 
the atmosphere that, while the mercury 
is not very high, the weather is close and 
stifling. The thermometer marks be- 
tween 80° and 85° F., and yet I am 
obliged to have a fire built in my room 
during the afternoon to counteract the 
dampness. In the mornings I find my 
shoes and clothing covered with damp- 
mould. Altogether, this is neither cheer- 
ful nor comfortable. 

To-day there is much anxiety about 
to-morrow's weather; for the Queen's 
Jubilee is to be celebrated with parades 



144 Jottings of Travel 

and cathedral services, a garden party on 
the grounds of the British Consulate, and, 
in the evening, fireworks, a grand illumi- 
nation and more parades. 

On the 15th I attended the ''smoking 
concert" of the Shanghai Literary and 
Debating Society, at the Lyceum Theatre, 
where several hundred gentlemen were 
assembled. I went there as the guest of 
Consul-General J. S. Kennedy, the Pres- 
ident of the Society, who has been very 
obliging to me during my stay here. 
The performance consisted of songs, 
instrumental solos, readings and recita- 
tions, by members of the Society, and 
some of the numbers were very cleverly 
done. 

Shanghai, Jnne 26th, i88y. 
After all, it rained on the 21st, and the 
illumination was postponed until yester- 
day, the 25 th. There were showers at 
intervals through the day, and just now 
it looks as if it never would stop raining. 



ill China (Did Japan. 145 

Despite the rain, the show was a great 
success. The crowd of Chinese that 
thronofed the Bund was of itself a sicrht 
worth seeing, and I was at a good point 
to get an excellent view of the whole 
display, for I was stationed on the top 
balcony of the Shanghai Club-House. I 
have no doubt that to-morrow's news- 
paper will give a more satisfactory 
account of the affair than I can furnish, 
and I shall therefore send it to you.'^ 

A few nights ago I visited a Chinese 
theatre on the Canton Road, in the 
Chinese portion of the foreign settle- 
ment. On our way there we passed by 
all sorts of shops and restaurants, kept by 
natives and, as usual, dirty and ill-smell- 
ing. The street looked picturesque, 
however, with the moving throng of Jin- 
ricshas, chairs and pedestrians, and the 
gayly colored lanterns that were sus- 
pended in front of the shops and at the 

* See Appendix. 



146 Jottings of Travel 

entrance of the gate-ways between the 
buildings. The crowd was bustling, 
merry and noisy. 

The theatre is quite large. In those 
portions of the house that we would call 
parquet, parcjuet circle and balcony, the 
seats are arranged in groups of four or 
six around- tables. These are the first- 
class seats. In the second-class part of 
the theatre there are no tables. You are 
supplied with tea ad libittim and also with 
dried watermelon seeds, which the Chi- 
nese seem to relish greatly. They chew 
them and then spit them out on the floor. 
As smoking is encouraged, cigar stumps 
and cigarette ends find the same resting 
place. You can also purchase sweet- 
meats and cakes of various kinds, the 
waste of which is sent to keep company 
with the cigar stumps; and, as the floor 
is a Chinese one, it looks as if it had 
never been assaulted by a scrubbing 
brush. 

There was acting, with and without 



in CJiiiia and Japan. 147 

singing, and an exhibition of acrobatic 
performances. The latter were clever, 
intricate, grotesque and interesting. The 
actors were, accordino: to Chinese custom, 
all males. Those who enacted the fem.ale 
roles dressed as women, and sang and 
spoke in falsetto voice. The costumes 
were rich and varied ; the masks and the 
painted faces were excellent; but as to 
scenery, everything was of the crudest, 
hardly deserving the name. 

The music was one incessant, horrid 
din. There was the Chinese fiddle, well 
played and with a tune that was quite 
distinguishable. But the artist who 
''presided at" the gong, with the unflag- 
ging assistance of the energetic and 
zealous performer on the tam-tam, 
banged away as if trying to deafen both 
actors and audience. If one could even 
understand what was being said on the 
stage, the music would prevent your 
hearing it. During the progress of the 
play, the Chinese gentlemen who had 



148 Jottings of Travel 

invited us to go to the theatre with them, 
obligingly translated much of what was 
said, thus giving us a notion of it and 
enabling us to judge of the quality of the 
acting which, to me at least, seemed quite 
clever. Despite the ear-splitting music, 
we sat through the long performance for 
the sake of witnessing the acrobatic bat- 
tle scene, which was very near the end of 
the programme. 

Besides handing around tea and water- 
melon seeds, the Chinese have a custom, 
at their dinners and other entertainments, 
of bringing you a towel, about twelve 
inches square, which has been dampened 
in hot water, and with which you are to 
wipe your face and hands. In a warm 
room this is very refreshing. The towels 
are handed about quite frequently. In a 
private house, or at a small and select 
entertainment, they are very acceptable 
and are sometimes rendered more so by a 
delicate perfume of one sort or another. 
In the theatre, however, you wonder 



/// China and Japan. 149 

whose face and hands they have last been 
used on, for the only rinsing they get is 
to be steeped in hot water for an instant 
and then squeezed out. 



150 Jottings of Travel 



XVII. Foreigners in China — A Jewish 
Synagogue, Etc. 

Concerning the social habits of the for- 
eigners resident here, there is not much 
to be said. They are very hospitable, 
and the attentions shown a stranger usu- 
ally come in the form of invitations to 
tiffin or to dinner. The dining hour is 
7 P.M. in winter and 7.30 P.M. to 8 P.M. 
in summer. There is but little visiting 
in the evenings, and social calls are 
usually paid between 4 P.M. and 7 P.M. 

There are many clever and interesting 
people here, and a temporary sojourner 
who is armed with proper letters of intro- 
duction can be sure of a pleasant time. 
In that respect I have been very fortu- 
nate, and have been made welcome in 
charming homes, where, aside from the 



/'// China and Japan. 151 

bounteous hospitality that one soon 
comes to look for here as a matter of 
course, I have met men and women inter- 
ested in literature and the arts, well up 
in all the topics of the day, and bright 
and clever conversationalists withal. 

The houses of the foreigners are, as a 
rule, large ; the rooms, on account of the 
summer heat, have high ceilings, and the 
furnishing and appointments suggest a 
blending of Western comfort with East- 
ern luxury. Public entertainments are 
few and far betv/een, and, because of 
their rarity, are fairly well patronized, 
even when indifferent as to quality. 
There is an amateur orchestra, a choral 
society and the thriving Shanghai Liter- 
ary and Debating Society. For out-door 
sports there are cricket, lawn tennis and, 
of late, base ball. Horse racing and 
yachting also have their votaries. So, 
when all is told, and I suppose I do not 
know enough to give you more than half 
the story, there is variety after all in the 



152 Jottings of Travel 

so-called monotony of Shanghai life. It 
is easy enough to understand how the 
European or American is constantly long- 
ing to return to the home he has left, and 
quite as easy to comprehend how, when, 
after several years spent here, he goes 
back to that home, he is all impatient to 
return to Shanghai, where, paradoxical as 
it may seem, he feels that life if narrower 
is yet freer, and where he knows and is 
known by .every man he meets. 

And now, although it is about 10 A.M. 
in Philadelphia, I shall say good-night to 
you. 

Shanghai^ July 7, i88j. 
To-day's temperature is such as to 
make it unwise to venture out of doors 
until four or five o'clock in the afternoon, 
and yet, sitting in my room, I am obliged 
to place paper weights on the various 
small articles on my table lest the fine 
breeze should scatter them. Thus far I 
have found the summer no worse than at 



in China and Japan, [53 

home, and have had nothing to complain 
of in the way of weather, except the long 
rainy spell, which lasted about three 
weeks, and, fortunately, ended on the ist 
inst. From the second to the fifth, inclu- 
sive, we had delightful days, with cool, 
moonlight nights, enabling us to have a 
jolly celebration of the glorious Fourth, 
at the American Consulate. Yesterday 
brought us showers and enough damp 
mould on my clothes and bedding to ren- 
der it necessary to have a fire built in my 
room. 

On a recent Saturday I started out to 
find the Jewish Synagogue. It is on the 
Foochow Road, and not far from the 
Bund. I had gotten the address from the 
Hong Book, or directory, but when I 
reached the place designated, saw noth- 
ing to indicate that I was near a house of 
worship of any kind. I walked along a 
narrow paved way that suggested the 
entrance to a stable yard, and turning to 
the right saw a clean, cheerful looking 



154 Jottings of Travel 

house, at the door of which there sat 
a bright-eyed youth, who greeted me 
politely, and whom I asked where the 
Jewish Synagogue was to be found. He 
told me to wait a moment, ran into the 
house, and soon returned in company 
with a man about forty years of age, who 
informed me that the Synagogue was up- 
stairs, and kindly offered to show it to 
me. On inquiring, I found that I was 
addressing the hazan of the congregation 
and, in all probability, its schamass. He 
told me that he came from Jerusalem. 
His command of English was such that I 
found it easier to converse with him in 
German, which he spoke with an unmis- 
takable Polish accent. 

The Synagogue is a room about thirty 
or forty feet square, taking up the entire 
upper floor of the building. It is plainly 
yet neatly furnished, with the portion in 
which the women sit railed off from the 
rest, in true orthodox fashion, for the 
Jewish community of Shanghai is too 



in China and Japan. 155 

limited in numbers to indulge in the lux- 
ury of dividing itself into sects. Unless 
my memory is at fault, the society num- 
bers between thirty and forty members in 
all, and, according to the statement of 
my informant, would long since have 
ceased to exist if it were not for the lib- 
erality of the Sassoon family. 

He told me, further, that the service for 
the day, according to the custom during 
the summer months, had been held early 
in the morning. As it was nearly eleven 
o'clock when I paid my visit, I, of course, 
missed it. 



I have been much interested in several 
young Chinamen who were among the 
party of students sent to the United 
States some years ago in order to become 
educated in Western science. It is well 
known that, owing to the influence of cer- 
tain oflicials who were opposed to such 
measures of progress, and who claimed 
that the sole effect of sending these youth 



156 JotHngs of Travel 

abroad to mingle with outside barbarians, 
wonld be to denationalize them, they were 
recalled before they had a chance to com- 
plete the course of studies prescribed for 
them. Three of these gentlemen, Messrs. 
Chu Pow Fay, Kit Foo and Tong, are 
stationed at Shanghai, in government 
employ, in the Department of Tele- 
graphs. As a matter of course, they 
speak English with ease, and they are 
bright and clever men. I have been 
much in their society, and owe them 
thanks for their unremitting kindly atten- 
tion during my stay here. 



171 China and Japan. 157 



XVIII. Tientsin. 

On board the S. S. Chung King^ 

Cheefoo, July 10, i88y. 
Late in the afternoon of the 7th, I 
received a telegram summoning me to 
Tientsin. I at once asked Mr. B., who 
was to go with me, to secure passage for 
both of us, while I set about closing up 
my affairs at Shanghai. At about 7 P.M. 
he returned to the hotel and informed 
me that there were two good state- 
rooms to be had on this snug little 
steamer, and that he had engaged them. 
Shortly after eight o'clock, aided by one 
of the Chinese servants, I set about pack- 
ing, and at 9 P.M. I sent my luggage on 
board. As the steamer was not to leave 
until three or four o'clock in the morn- 
ing, we remained on shore until near 



158 Jottings of Travel 

midnight. When I awoke the next morn- 
ing, we were steaming out of the Yang- 
tse, and during the greater part of that 
day we were in the yellow water. 

We reached here at about one o'clock 
this morning, and for the next hour or 
tv/o sleep was rendered impossible by the 
noise incident to the loading and dis- 
charging of freight. We expect to leave 
at about eight o'clock. I have been up 
since five, have had my bath and my cup 
of coffee, and, instead of going ashore for 
the short time at command, have con- 
cluded to remain on board and write you 
this letter. 

Cheefoo is a small settlement on the 
southern shore of the Gulf of Pechili 
and is quite noted as a watering place. 
There is a fine sandy beach, or rather 
spit, and the sea-bathing is said to be 
excellent. The place is visited by foreign- 
ers as well as natives, and I have just had 
the country-seat of Viceroy Li Hung 
Chang pointed out to me. 



ifi China and Japan. 159 

On the first morning- out from Shang- 
hai, a big, red, jolly face looked into the 
window of my cabin, with a cheery 
'' Good-morning, sir." I answered the 
greeting, and asked, "Are you the Cap- 
tain?" 

" I draw the Captain's pay," was the 
reply, and it of course was Captain 
Hutchinson, a Scotchman from the Shet- 
land Isles. I have found him agreeable 
and communicative. There are only four 
first-class passengers : a Mr. Ohlmer and 
his wife, Mr. B. and myself. Mr. O. is a 
German, who has been in the Chinese 
customs service for a number of years, 
and has much interesting information to 
impart about China and the Chinese. 

Since leaving Shanghai we have had 
delightfully cool weather, fine sunsets 
and beautiful moonlight nights. By to- 
morrow noon we hope to reach Tientsin. 
Last night it was three months since I 
took leave of you at Broad Street Station. 
I have almost reached the limit of my 



i6o Jottings of Travel 

outward journey. How soon I may be 
retracing my course, I cannot as yet say. 

Tientsin, July i6, i88y. 
On Monday morning, the iitli inst., we 
found ourselves approaching the Taku 
forts, at the mouth of the Peiho, the most 
corkscrew-like and the muddiest stream 
I have ever seen. It is all turns and 
bends; there are, I believe, some twenty 
or more between Taku and Tientsin. It 
is quite shallow, and its width in many 
places is less than the length of our 
steamer; so you can readily understand 
that it requires careful navigation to 
avoid running aground. 

We were between five and six hours in 
coming the short distance. On the way 
we passed a number of villages, consist- 
ing of mud huts occupied by fishermen 
and farm laborers. Boys of various ages 
were running about stark naked. They 
were of about the same color as the 
muddy river in which they seemed to be 



/;/ China and Japan. i6i 

very fond of swimming. In the Bay of 
Cheefoo I saw, for the first time, fisher- 
men walking about on stilts, at some 
distance from the shore. 

The country on either side of the Peiho 
is flat and uninteresting, but quite fertile. 
It is intersected by numerous canals for 
irrigating purposes. We saw men and 
women working the treadle pumps that 
lift the water from the river into these 
canals, and saw quite a number at work 
in the well tilled fields, and in the peach 
and apple orchards. 

We reached Tientsin at about noon 
and proceeded to the Astor House, which 
seems to be a favorite name for hotels in 
this part of the world. As regards 
accommodations, it is rather a primitive 
sort of establishment, but the cuisine is 
good and the landlord is quite obliging. 

The foreign settlement contains a 
population, all told, of about 300. As the 
houses and offices are generally situated 
in large enclosures, surrounded by high 



1 62 Jottings of Travel 

walls, this portion of the city takes up 
more ground than one would suppose. 
Thus far, I have not found it interesting, 
and I have already seen so much of the 
Chinese suburbs that I have no desire, in 
this very hot weather, to visit the old 
city, which, I learn, has from 600,000 to 
800,000 inhabitants. 

This is a busy port, the second in 
importance in the empire. Junks and 
steamers are stretched along the river 
side and the Bund is so piled up with 
freight, waiting shipment or just dis- 
charged, that there is but little room for 
pedestrians or jin-ricshas. During the 
winter months, when the Peiho is closed 
by ice, business is at a standstill and 
Tientsin is in great measure cut off from 
communication with the rest of the world. 

I have been very kindly received by 
Mr. E. J. Smithers, our Consul, and by Mr. 
R. M. Brown, the Tientsin representative 
of Russell «& Co. Certain business matters 
take up a good portion of my time during 



in China and Japan. 163 

the day ; although I have a leisure hour 
now and then, the heat is so excessive that 
I do not feel tempted to go out of doors, 
unless it be in the evening. 

To celebrate the Queen's Jubilee, the 
English residents of Tientsin recently 
opened the Victoria Park, a large enclo- 
sure provided with a"" good fence and a 
music pavilion, and which will some day, 
I suppose, be nicely laid out with flower 
beds and pretty plants, after the manner 
of the Public Garden at Shanghai. In 
the evenings a band of fifteen or twenty 
performers, all of whom are Chinese, play 
there on clarinets, cornets, trombones and 
the other instruments that go to make up 
a proper military band. They were 
taught by an Austrian, and play marches, 
polkas and other light music, quite cor- 
rectly, but just like so many automata. 
It was very amusing to listen to them in 
a medley of negro airs, played in their 
angular style and without the lilt that 
one is used to. 



164 Jottings of Travel 

Althougli I have letters to our Minister 
and to various other notables at Peking, 
I shall have to forego the visit I intended 
to make to the Chinese capital. To go 
there and return would take a full week. 
I cannot well spare the time, the heat 
deters me from making the attempt, and 
I am told on all sides that this is an 
unfavorable season of the year to visit 
Peking. 

The streets, bridges and public build- 
ings of Peking are described as in a state 
of dusty decay. I am told that the funds 
in the Imperial Treasury have been very 
low for a number of years. There is no 
general system of taxation. The various 
provinces are laid under tribute in order 
to support the Imperial Court and its 
retainers. There are said to be over 
30,000 of the latter, none of whom, as 
they belong to the reigning family, are 
allowed to take positions, even in govern- 
ment employ, but subsist upon the bounty 
of the Emperor. Now, what with famines 



m China and Japan. 165 

and other causes, the provinces were, dur- 
ing several years, unable to contribute as 
liberally as was expected of them. As a 
result, the great army of dependents on 
the Imperial bounty have been obliged to 
manage on about a fifth or a sixth of 
what they usually received. Under these 
circumstances, there was no money for 
public purposes. 

Within the past two or three years 
there has been some improvement in this 
respect; and if the present promise of 
large receipts in the way of tribute is 
borne out, there is a fair prospect that 
something may be done to improve the 
roads of Peking and the general aspect 
of that vast city. 



;66 Jottings of Travel 



XIX, The Railway Problem. 

If the Cliinese have been more tardy 
than the Japanese in adopting the tele- 
graph, the telephone, and the railways, or 
in taking advantage of the great mineral 
wealth of their country, they have, it is 
claimed, at last taken tip these instruments 
of modem progress in so thorough and 
effective a manner as to bid fair to dis- 
tance their island neighbors. They have 
already a system of telegraphs connecting 
the cities along the coast, and extending 
inland along the Yang-tse-Kiang as far as 
Hankow, and beyond. The service is as 
good as can be expected with the simple 
methods now in use, for such refinements 
as duplex and quadruplex instruments 
have never yet been seen by the Chinese 
telegraph operators. 



i}i China and Japan. 167 

The points covered by the telegraph 
lines indicate the proper route of the first 
railways to be built, viz., southward from 
Peking to Canton, connecting the great 
cities along and near to the coast, and 
westward along the Yang-tse-Kiang ; 
while lateral routes acting as feeders to 
these lines will open up the interior. 
The advantages resulting from such a sys- 
tem readily suggest themselves. Among 
the iTLost obvious of these may be 
named the greater commercial prosperity 
of the nation, the improvement in the 
general condition of the population that 
must result from inter-communication 
between the inhabitants of the various 
sections ; the means of forwarding and 
distributing food supplies in time to avert 
the famines which, in seasons of bad har- 
vests, have decimated the population of 
entire provinces ; and the facilities for 
moving and concentrating troops in order 
to suppress popular uprisings. 

China is rich in mineral wealth. A few 



1 68 Jottings of Travel 

mines of coal and gold have been opened. 
With railways these could be made more 
profitable and a number of others would 
be developed. The commerce of the coast 
and river ports is already considerable; 
with railways connecting those ports 
with the interior this trade would be 
greatly increased. By the present meth- 
ods the journey from Tientsin to Peking, 
a distance of about eighty miles, takes 
about three days ; with a railway it would 
take about three hours. During the 
winter months trade between Tientsin or 
Peking and the outer world is practically 
closed, because of the ice in the Peiho. 
All this will soon be changed. To what 
extent the new order of things will affect 
the leisurely and deliberate ways of the 
Chinese merchant and trader is a most 
interesting question, to which the future 
alone can furnish the answer. Time, 
with the Chinaman, seems to have no 
value. He is never in a hurry, and can- 
not understand why you should be. The 



ill Chi}! a and Japan. 169 

aforesaid Chinese merchant, although well- 
known to be shrewd beyond comparison 
with his commercial rivals, bears the 
highest reputation for honesty, and is 
certainly clever enough to profit by the 
advantages about to be offered him. 

China needs the railway for the reasons 
stated and for many others that will 
readily suggest themselves. To create 
such a railway system (in accordance with 
the government policy that railroads and 
mines must belong to the Chinese them- 
selves), requires a more orderly system of 
finances than obtains at present. China, 
speaking of the eighteen provinces, pre- 
sents a fine object lesson of an unfavora- 
ble phase of "states rights." The finances, 
if such they can be termed, of the various 
provinces are conducted independently, 
without reference to each other, and with 
regard to the Peking government only in 
so far as the annual tribute is concerned. 
There is no '' budget " in any of them. 
The Viceroys, appointed by the Emperor 



170 Jottings of Travel 

for three years, and holding office at his 
pleasure, levy the taxes and determine 
that such and such impost must yield so 
much money, their object being to raise 
enough to enable them to pay the required 
tribute and run their own government. 
There is no general tax levied by the 
imperial government, and falling alike 
on all subjects ; indeed, there is no general 
system of finance. 

This accounts for the high rate of 
interest paid on such loans as the govern- 
ment has effected. The lowest I know of 
bears 5j per cent. There are others 
made within the last few years paying 7, 
8, and 9 per cent, respectively, although 
the receipts from the imperial customs 
are pledged as security. 

The establishment of a national bank 
has repeatedly been urged on the ground 
that it would help to regulate these mat- 
ters to the great advantage of the gov- 
ernment and the people, and, although 
the subject has been under consideration 



in China and Japan. 171 

for about fifteen years, it is impossible to 
say when, how, or by whom, such a bank 
will be established. 

There are progressionists like the Vice- 
roy Li Hung Chang, Marquis Tseng, and 
others, who clearly see that China would 
be benefited by the introduction of 
some of the results of Western civili- 
zation; but their efforts are hampered 
on all sides by the prejudices, and 
the reverence for precedent, of the 
large majority of those without whose 
consent they are powerless to act. How- 
ever powerful a minister may be, he has 
not the privilege of independent action. 
Whatever he may wish to undertake 
must be deliberated upon with his co- 
adjutors, and the doubts and objections 
of the most obstinate must be overcome 
before a point is gained. This calls for 
great adroitness and judgment on tlie 
part of him who desires to introduce 
new measures. Above all things else, 
he must not be in a hurry. To secure 



172 Jottings of Travel 

the end lie has in view, he must be con- 
tent to make haste slowly. This is in 
accord with the Chinese temperament 
and also helps to avoid the necessity of 
retracing a step after it has once been 
taken. 

That an advance has been made, and 
that the next decade or two will find this 
most conservative of nations holding 
quite a different position from its pres- 
ent one, as regards appliances for inter- 
communication between the various sec- 
tions of the empire, is quite certain. 



in China and Japan. 173 



XX. Homeward Bound. 

Grand Hotel, 
Yokohama, August 7, iS8j. 
On the 26th of July I left Tientsin, and 
had great pleasure in doing so, for I can- 
not recall a more uncomfortable fortnight 
than the one I passed there. After we 
had gotten beyond Taku Bar, it was a 
great relief to be at sea once more, and I 
soon lost the feeling of discomfort that 
I had been unable to shake off while in 
hot and dreary Tientsin. 

It was not so easy to get away, after 
all. I was ready to leave on the 23d. 
There are usually outgoing steamers on 
every day of the week, but at that time 
there were none in port, and the S. S. 
Pautah, from Shanghai, was so long over- 
due that fears were entertained for her 



1/4 Jottings of Travel 

safety. On the 24th a small steamer 
arrived, but declined to take any passen- 
gers because she had been ordered to 
sail in quest of the missing Pautah. On 
the 25 th there was another departure, 
but the captain politely informed me 
that he had cabin accommodations for 
only two passengers and that he had 
been '' bespoke" by the taotai oi Cheefoo 
and his Secretary, the clever Mr. Wong- 
Kai-Ka. Finally, during the afternoon of 
that day, the S. S. Tung Chow, Captain 
Shaw, arrived, and I was informed that 
she would sail the next morning. I lost 
no time in securing passage, and, before 
retiring for the night, had sent my trunks 
on board. 

I arose early on Tuesday, the 26th, for 
the steamer was to leave the wharf at 
8 A.M., and I need not assure you that 
my departure from Tientsin was none 
the less enjoyable because of the thought 
that I was at last homeward bound. 
After a pleasant passage of about three 



/// Chi/ia and Japan. 175 

days, I reached Shanghai, early on the 
morning of the 29th. On our way down 
the coast we saw the Pautah, which 
had run aground in a fog near the Shan- 
tung light. Our engines were stopped, 
and we waited while Captain Petersen, 
the commander of the wrecked steamer, 
came on board the S. S. Tung Chow and 
acquainted Captain vShaw with the par- 
ticulars of the disaster. As the sea was 
running pretty high, it was some time 
before Captain Petersen's boat reached us. 
His crew were hard at work trying to save 
some of the cargo. More than half of 
the vessel was under water and it was 
becoming dano^erous to remain on board 
much longer. Captain Shav/ kindly 
proffered his services to Captain Petersen, 
who shortly afterward left us, whereupon 
we resumed our course. 

At 5 P.M., of the 29th, the same day on 
which I reached Shanghai, I left there 
per S. S. Tokio Maru, Captain Wynne, for 
this port. We had dirty weather all the 



176 Jottings of Travel 

way, and reached here, thirty-six hours 
late, last evening. If all goes well I hope 
to be able to leave for San Francisco per 
S. S. Belgic, on the 13th. 



Here my letters end. After a pleasant 
week in Yokohama, during which I saw 
much of the friends I had made during 
my previous stay, and renewed acquaint- 
ance with many of the sights and not a 
few of the curio shops of that city and 
Tokio, I sailed on the 13th, per S. S. Belgic 
(Captain Walker), for San Francisco, 
where we arrived on the 27th. 

On the afternoon of the 29th I left 
'Frisco, and on the 4th of September I 
reached Philadelphia, much the better in 
health and spirits for the extended trip I 
had taken, and all the happier at being 
home again. 



/'// China a}id Japan. 177 



APPENDIX. 



CHINESE PIRATES. 

[Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, May 24, iSSS.] 

The China steamer yesterday brought news to San 
Francisco of the extraordinary wreck of the costly 
S. S. San Pablo, which occurred on April 24th, on 
a reef off Turnabout Island, in the Formosa Straits, 
off the China coast. Only brief cable reports have 
been received of the disaster. The vessel struck a 
sunken rock in a thick fog early in the morning. 
Every one was aroused, and the Captain soon saw that 
the vessel must be abandoned, as she was filling fast, 
and showed a tendency to capsize. Just before the 
life-boats were ready to be lowered, a swarm of Chi- 
nese piratical junks came from the neighboring 
mainland. The queer-looking vessels sailed in line 
of battle, and Captain Reed, realizing the danger 
his charges were in, made preparations to repel the 
attack. The pirates, however, came in such numbers 
that before any demonstration could be made on board 
the sinking vessel, the pirates were climbing up the 
ship's sides. 

They were led by a man who was armed with a cut- 
lass and a revolver. His shipmates were also heavily 



1/8 Jottings of Travel 

armed. Captain Reed passed revolvers and guns 
among the passengers and crew, and after a furious 
fusillade the coolies were beaten off. They rallied, 
however, and made a second and more desperate at- 
tempt to board the San Pablo, which was fast settling 
in the water. Some of the pirates gained the main 
deck, in spite of the gallant stand of the passengers 
and crew, and were swarming towards the promenade 
deck, where the defenders were busy firing and reload- 
ing, when Captain Reed brought the ship's hose pipes 
into requisition. The long coils of hose were manned 
by the crew, and instantly the pirates were again put 
to flight, the torrents of boiling water from the pipes 
sweeping many of them off the decks into the sea. 

The coolies then beat a retreat, and, drawing their 
vessels up in line, cruised half a mile off the sinking 
vessel, with the evident intention of waiting for the 
abandonment of the vessel. During the fight Captain 
Reed imprisoned all the Chinese among his crew with 
the Chinese passengers in the forehold, for fear they 
would aid their countrymen in the attempt to loot the 
vessel. As soon as possible the passengers, mails and 
specie were put into the San Pablo's small boats, and 
then all bore away for the mainland. When only a 
short distance from the wreck, Captain Reed and his 
charges saw the pirates set sail and rush upon the San 
Pablo, as they had done a few hours before. They 
clambered over the ship's sides with grappling hooks, 
and were soon masters of one of the finest boats that 



/;/ China and Japan. 179 

ever sailed the Pacific. Whether bj'- accident or de- 
sign, they soon set fire to the ship, and when last seen 
smoke was pouring from the wreck in great clouds. 
The passengers were taken to Hong Kong, and tugs 
were sent to the relief of the San Pablo, but they 
found only the hulk, burned to the water's edge, and 
stripped of everything valuable. 

It is estimated that at least a score of pirates lost 
their lives in this stubborn fight with Captain Reed 
and his men. During the battle the women and chil- 
dren who were on board the San Pablo sought the 
state-rooms, where they were in constant fear not only 
of falling into the hands of the pirates, but of being 
drowned in the water which was filling the ship. 

The Sa7t Pablo was fitted up in finer style than any 
steamer that ever left San Francisco, and was valued 
at 1500,000, which is a total loss, as she was uniusiired. 



i8o Jottings of Travel 



HER MAJESTY'S JUBIIvEE. 

[North-China Herald, of July i, 1887.] 

The hopes that were formed on Friday that Satur- 
day would be fine were doomed to disappointment. It 
did not pour, and there were delusive intervals of 
calm, but notwithstanding the unfavorable weather 
the Committee decided to carry out the programme, 
and complete the celebration. 

Undeterred by the dark clouds and intermittent 
drenching showers, the various bodies forming the 
procession began to arrive pretty punctually at the 
Police compound, where they were arranged in order 
by Mr. Drummond Hay and started about five o'clock. 
The streets along the route were literally packed with 
Chinese spectators, but the utmost good order pre- 
vailed, and there was no interruption to the progress 
of the procession through the dense crowd. Indeed, 
the quiet demeanor and orderly conduct of a Chinese 
crowd upon such occasions strike a foreigner very 
forcibly and favorably. Despite of the dispiriting 
surroundings the processionists made a ver)' brave 

show. 

■X- -;;- * -;:- * * 

The windows of the houses along the way were 



ill China ana Japan. i8i 

crowded with delighted spectators. The appearance 
of the procession marching along the gayly decorated 
Bund was particularly effective, and all that it wanted 
to complete the beauty of the scene was a more 
smiling sky overhead. The band of the Braun- 
schweig was meanwhile discoursing its best music in 
the grounds of the British Consulate, where the garden 
party had commenced under the sadly depressing 
influences of drenching rain and a sward converted 
into a marsh. 

The garden party could not by the most unblushing 
optimist be pronounced a success. But the fault w'as 
entirely upon the shoulders of the Clerk of the 
Weather, an official who had for days been trifling 
with the Committee and driving them to the verge of 
desperation. The hospitality of the hosts— the whole 
British communitj^ in general — was lavishly extended 
to the visitors who came, if not in their thousands in 
response to the general invitation, at least to the number 
of several hundreds. The large marquees were filled 
with refreshments in solid and liquid form, a pretty 
novelty in the shape of Japanese day firew^orks was 
introduced, and gave much amusement, and the hosts 
and the guests combined to ignore the efforts which 
the elements w^ere making to damp their spirits. It 
was decidedly a garden party under a cloud, dripping 
trees, and on a quagmire, but, even so, it was enjoyed 
to a certain extent. The Consular offices had all been 
turned into reception rooms, with tables laid out for 



1 82 Jottings of Travel 

refresliments, and in these and the verandas troops 
of ladies found shelter from the rain. 

-X- * -^ ■?{■ -H- -;(■■;$•* ^ 

At eight o'clock the work of lighting the thousands 
of lanterns which were strung the whole length of 
the Bund, and on all the houses, was begun. The 
Japanese lanterns, which were hung in festoons across 
the Bund at frequent intervals, had all succumbed to 
the weather, dropping down in dozens, the eager 
jin-ricsha men rushing at them as they fell, and lay- 
ing in a fine supply of candles for future use. But 
the indomitable energy of Mr. Gratton was not to be 
conquered even by this contretemps. Fresh strings 
of lanterns were brought up, lighted and swung from 
the tops of the masts, and by nine o'clock, when all 
the illuminations, with one notable exception, were 
alight, the river front of Shanghai, from one end of 
the harbor to the other, presented a sight which it 
has never shown before, and is not likely to again, 
until the Jubilee of Shanghai itself comes round. 
Indeed, there are not many cities in the world where 
such a coup d'oeit as was obtained from the houses on 
the Bund, could be got, the great bend in the river 
lending itself admirably to the displa3^ Countless 
thousands of lanterns of all colors were alight in an 
almost continuous line of some three miles. The 
river, too, was lighted up. The men-of-war were 
covered with lanterns from the trucks to the rails, but 
there was nothing prettier than the illumination of 



ill China and Japan. 183 

the P. & O. S. S. Ravenna, whose masts, yards, 
fuunel and mizzen trysail were outlined in fire, until 
she looked like a phantom ship studded with yellow 
diamonds ; and in every port along her side shone a 
lamp. Far down in the harbor was a large river 
paddle steamer whose whole outline, paddle-boxes 
and all, were traced out in fire. There was hardly a 
ship or steamer or yacht that was not hung with lan- 
terns, and the darkness of the night, with the heavy 
canopy of clouds, from which rain fell occasionally, 
aided the effect. Punctually at nine the preparatory 
gun sounded from the Sapphire, and at the same 
moment the yard-arms and other points on the 
Ravenna were illuminated with blue-lights, which 
also blazed up from the men-of-war. From these and 
from the pontoons in the river, the upward shower of 
rockets now began, to the accompanying roar of the 
vast crowd of Chinese, who braved the inclemency of 
the weather. It would be impossible in reasonable 
limits to describe all the illuminations. 

At nine everything began to go at once. At three 
points on the foreshore the Canton fireworks were 
being displayed, and the set pieces were watched with 
the most intense admiration. Fire balloons went up 
at intervals and rockets continuously, and the effect 
of the latter was very curious. The clouds were so 
low and thick, that the rockets nearly all disappeared. 
Then there was a gleam of light in the cloud as the 



184 Jottings of Travel 

rocket burst, the colored stars coming back into sight, 
like meteors, after an appreciable interval. 



THE DRESS OF JAPANESE LADIES. 

{^The Times ^ I,ondon.] 

A number of eminent American ladies, headed by 
Mrs. Cleveland and Mrs. Garfield, have addressed an 
open letter "to Japanese women who are adopting 
foreign dress." The writers say that as Japan is 
rapidly taking rank with other nations of the earth in 
all that pertains to Western civilization, it is not 
strange that foreign innovations have at last reached 
woman and her attire. If the ladies of Japan have 
made up their minds to adopt Western female dress in 
its entirety it would be useless to urge them not to do 
so, but the writers of the letter are anxious that they 
should first know that those who have studied the 
subject hold that there is great need of improvement 
in certain particulars. From the standpoint of beauty, 
grace and suitability (the letter goes on), Japanese 
dress, modelled after the best Japanese standards, is both 
elegant an d r efin ed, and it would tak e y ears for Japan es e 
ladies to adapt to themselves and wear with equal grace 
a costume to which they are entirely unaccustomed. 
As to economy, European dress, with its ample skirts 
and trimmings, requires a large amount of material, 
and even if native stuffs are used the expense of the 
costume will be greatl3Mncreased, to say nothing of 



/// Chi'iia aud Japa^i. 185 

the change and expenditure in household furniture 
necessary if Western dress be adopted. Foreign 
carpets, chairs and tables must be added to foreign 
dress and shoes, and Japanese household interiors, 
now held up to the world as models of grace, sim- 
plicity and harmony, will have to be entirely re- 
modelled. But it is to the relations of foreign dress 
to health that the attention of Japanese ladies is 
especially directed. Heavy skirts, dangerously close- 
fitting dress bodies, " the insidious custom of wearing 
corsets, far more direful in its consequences than the 
Chinese custom of compressing the feet of women," 
are all commented on. Some of the writers think 
that the charge of immodesty sometimes made against 
the present Japanese dress could be met by the addi- 
tion of underclothing. All these observations are 
made " that Japanese ladies may be made aware of the 
dangers in such a course before adopting foreign 
dress, and that they may be led to stop and consider 
well before doing what will affect, not only their own 
health, but that of their sons and daughters." 



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